Bloggus Vox Politico

ABC News Confused About Abundance and Scarcity

2011-03-01T20:01:00.002-06:00

The problem with this ABC News segment is that this line of thinking ignores half the equation. Yes, if we spend more on X (American-made goods in this case), more jobs producing X will result. But, all that money would have been used for something else had it not gone to X. Any valid analysis has to consider the effects of not using that money for whatever it is redirected from. David Muir and ABC News don't even try to understand this "opportunity cost." Maybe tomorrow they will propose that we all buy an American-made good, smash it with a sledgehammer, and go buy a replacement. Presto! Twice as many new jobs. Same basic fallacy.

Opportunity cost: http://www.economist.com/research/Economics/alphabetic.cfm?letter=O#opportunitycost

A review of the segment: http://blogs.forbes.com/beltway/2011/03/01/with-made-in-america-abc-news-gets-trade-story-all-wrong/

A relevant essay written in 1845 by a Frenchman--kilometers beyond ABC's confused offering: http://bit.ly/fyMF22

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Think Locally, Demonize Extradimensionally

2011-01-29T04:15:00.000-06:00

It's not entirely surprising that somebody who wrote a book titled Free Trade Doesn't Work is now claiming that people who think free trade does work are anti-American. But, think about it for longer than it takes to read a Tweet and any sense to it evaporates. Why suggest that somebody is anti-American just because they disagree with you about trade policy? Isn't that more about means than ends? It doesn't matter what they think is the best policy, says Fletcher (when questioned), because "the bad guys" have already admitted to having freedom as their one and only value and that means they can't prefer American prosperity over prosperity abroad. Never having met anyone with fewer than two values, I found this to be a new and exotic argument. See my dissection of this noxious subspecies in the comments section here (look for "voxpolitico").

Could Be Better...

2011-01-27T19:55:00.001-06:00

...But, definitely could be worse (i.e., the sixteen presidents before him).

At least he implies, in very guarded language, the need to shift away from the incarceration mindset.

"Virtually Unregulated" Watch -- Episode 2

2010-12-16T06:31:00.001-06:00

The search seedlings are sprouting nicely, so it is time for a second episode of "Virtually Unregulated" Watch, the continuing effort to see what's haunting the regulatory mindscape. (In case you missed it, and you probably did, Episode 1 is here.)

"Virtually Unregulated" search at Google News--December 16, 2010--found the following subjects on the minds of virtual regulators:
1. Retailer restocking fees. "[Sen. Chuck Schumer]...wants the FTC to determine if failing to disclose the restocking fee is a deceptive practice and to require retailers to prominently display that the fee will be charged."
2. Elder-care mediation (a voluntary service). "'Just about anyone can hang out a shingle and say they're an elder mediator,' said Penny Hommel, co-director of the nonprofit Center for Social Gerontology in Ann Arbor, Mich."
‎3. Long Island Power Authority. "LIPA operates virtually unregulated. The board of trustees is appointed by the governor and state legislative leaders, and the Public Service Commission has limited jurisdiction."
‎4. "AIG and other insurance companies" -- from a commenter on a brief story about Ben Bernanke
‎5. Hedge funds. But, no call to arms here. Clearly bucking the trend in usage of the phrase.
‎6. Advertising of "ultra-processed foods and drinks." Article by "nutrition and public policy expert Marion Nestle" (no relation?) and brought to you by Cookie Crisp® cereal. Just kidding about that last part.
‎7. Fishing catches (looking back to a 1967 column as representing "the virtually unregulated days")
‎8. Agricultural Labor in Southern Florida. "In the world of agricultural industry, a world sustained by virtually unregulated labor, it is large corporations that decide both prices and working conditions."
9. "Credit companies"--again from a commenter. Article is about record debt-to-income ratio among Canadians.
‎10. "...the sprawling derivatives market, hedge funds and private equity, all dimly lit corners of the financial world..." Never fear: "Proposed rules issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission showed regulators stepping cautiously as they implement hundreds of new regulations mandated in July by Congress."
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That's it for VUW #2. Watch this space for future snapshots of how this panic-inducing phrase is being bandied about. Or, heck, run your own search. It's a virtually freeish country.

Let's Play "Did You Know?"

2010-12-09T13:35:00.001-06:00

Did you know that any money, apparently, in the pockets and bank accounts of ordinary people is a gift from government? Witness Rep. Elijah Cummings today on MSNBC, in response to a question about the tax compromise hashed out by President Obama and Republican legislators:

"We are concerned about the estate tax. We're concerned about a number of things. We're also concerned about whether we can, in fact, afford this. Keep in mind--we are about to give $68 billion, over the course of a year, to 39,000 families through this estate tax item. That's a problem." [bold added]

That's "give," as in GIFT. Well, Ho Ho Ho to you, too, Representative Cummings!

Homeland Security What?

2010-11-28T03:21:00.000-06:00

Homeland Security Seizes 70+ Websites for Copyright and Trademark Violations

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T19:47:00.002-06:00

Don't Panic?

2010-11-05T01:50:00.000-05:00

I'm not really sure how much wisdom, as opposed to humor, is embedded in this quote from [guess], but sometimes I think it's quite a lot:

This planet has, or had, a problem, which was this. Most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small, green pieces of paper, which is odd, because on the whole, it wasn't the small, green pieces of paper which were unhappy.

Extra! It's Too Bad the Mid-Terms Are Big News

2010-11-02T04:08:00.001-05:00

Today's mid-term election, like the 2008 election, is very Big News. Headline-spawning, anchor-hyperventilating, ratings-rescuing news. For months now, news outlets of all sorts have been dialing up the quantity and--well, the quantity of their coverage of races across the country. Every visible or audible move by candidates beyond inhaling and exhaling has been uploaded, scrutinized, interpreted, Tweeted and remixed. Reasonably well-dressed people have debated, scoffed at and walked out on each other on camera in the throes of election and political analysis. Commenters on innumerable web sites have ridiculed and dehumanized each other, the candidates and the reasonably well-dressed people. Reporting, commentary and gnashing of tooth and tusk concerning election outcomes will be hard to avoid today, tonight, tomorrow, and so on.

And that's too bad. Like vultures circling, it's an indicator that something has gone wrong. In a better world, political elections would not be such big news. Oh, they would be news. They would be important. But, they would not have the bile-generating, fury-inducing power that they have in many modern democracies. You might object that of course elections should be big news. They have a major impact on society and the lives of everyone in it! And I would agree. That is the problem. More specifically, the fact that "major impact" barely begins to describe the effect elections have on people living in this land (and, indeed, on people living in distant lands) is the problem. We are, most of us, made worse off by the fact that so much of our lives has become insinuated by the structures of government. Permission to adapt to changing circumstances is often not forthcoming in such a society. For, the contest between the civil and the political is a largely zero-sum one. The growing scope for politics and its trappings (laws, regulations, etc.) means a shrinking scope for civil (i.e., voluntary) give and take.

But, it is this very growth in the scope of politics within our society that makes the outcome of elections all the more momentous--and therefore more newsworthy. Given the potent power government wields over Americans and, as important, the future powers precedent seems to reserve, it is tragically rational for us to take a keen, perhaps manic, interest in the details of these periodic scrambles for political posts. And so, it is quite appropriate for the news media to build entire sets around the coverage of said scrambles. It's not every day that so much is decided about how we may or may not lawfully live our lives.

It's too bad the mid-term elections are Big News. But, they are.

Default Folklore

2010-10-20T20:58:00.004-05:00

If you have a nose for political economy, hold it. The murky doubt swirling around the Great Bailout is congealing into a hasty pudding of conventional wisdom--at least for the boosters of TB2F (Too Big To Fail), TARP, Inflationism, Do Somethingism, and etc. And, as long as nobody on the other side of that strategic, shrapnel-filled, yet strangely silent bluff bothers to lay out a rigorous, up-to-date refutation, those Liquidity Trappist Monks can scrawl the official history of the Great Obsession of '08 unhindered for the unwashed.

The apparent shortage of focused 2010 exposés by free market scholars on the multifarious costs and suspect benefits of TARP has been nagging at me for weeks--ever since the TARPorrists began crowing over reports that the shape-shifting program is going to end up costing little more than a used biography of John Kenneth Galbraith. But, more on this later.

A colleague of mine recently asserted that, at the height of the Paternalistic Panic of '08 (the Patroniziclysm?), while some experts may have opposed TARP, even they agreed we would go over a cliff without it. I decided to do some digging on that one. Here are some arguments made at the time. You may judge whether my TARP-defending friend is correct:

At 5:50 here Peter Schiff says what he thinks "no bailout" would mean.

Here's Cato's Dan Mitchell defending us from Stephen Moore.

And here's a nearly admirable piece by Geoff Colvin.

Finally, there was this piece by Steve Chapman in the reason. Excerpts:

George Kaufman, a finance professor at Loyola University Chicago, is skeptical... He notes that aside from inter-bank lending, the credit markets were functioning tolerably well at the height of the crisis. Rates on 30-year mortgages actually dropped last week.

...A group of 122 economists, including at least two Nobel laureates, signed a letter this week summarizing the danger: "If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America's dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted."

(Here's that letter.)

(TARP wasn't even used for what it was sold as. So, it's not surprising if its consequences don't match predictions.)

With so many weaknesses in the rationale for gigantic governmental rescues of private enterprise, one might anticipate that true defenders of free economies (not mere upside allies) would produce a glut of full-throated criticism of what TARP began and ended as. But, and I hope this is due to my own shabby job of searching, I have so far found few articles that qualify. If you know of any, please post a link in the comments [if comments are disabled, send me a Tweet].

12/20/10 UPDATE: Forgot something. See my own 9/29/08 post here. It quoted this very interesting 9/26/08 WaPo article, which begins:

Banks throughout the United States carried on with the business of making loans yesterday even as federal officials warned again that their industry is on the verge of collapse, suggesting that the overheated language on Capitol Hill may not reflect the reality on many Main Streets.

The industry is resilient despite the struggles of some members. Washington Mutual, a troubled Seattle savings and loan that was among the nation's largest mortgage lenders, yesterday was seized by the government and sold to J.P. Morgan Chase.

At the same time, many smaller banks said they were actually benefiting from the problems on Wall Street. Deposits are flowing in as customers flee riskier investments, and well-qualified borrowers are lining up for loans.

Feds Threaten Californians

2010-10-16T13:16:00.003-05:00

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The Obama administration has denounced Proposition 19, which would legalize personal use of marijuana in California, and promises to 'vigorously enforce' the federal ban on possessing, growing or selling the drug if voters approve the ballot measure Nov. 2.

"Virtually Unregulated" Watch

2010-10-10T16:40:00.004-05:00

A new feature here at Vox Politico...

The origin is straightforward: the past few years (at least) I have noticed that the phrase "virtually unregulated" has become a standard rhetorical alarm, often triggered while calling for--of course--new regulations on whatever realm of activity the speaker has targeted.

Research for this feature is also straightforward, but it's not because I'm lazy (not that I'm not lazy). No, the idea is to take an ether sample by which to assay the ambitions of bureaucrats, legislators, would-be politicians and, especially, cheerleaders for ever more government regulation.

Thus, the method for VUW will be to examine the top Google News results for the phrase "virtually unregulated"and report here the breakdown of topics and any other aspects that stand out. (Using Google News because plain vanilla Google results included some rather dated articles.) So, here we go.

"Virtually Unregulated" search at Google
October 15, 2010 results:
1. casualisation (I'd never heard of it either)
2. fishing and hunting...100+ years ago
3. communications (This one seems to use the key phrase in a non-fear-mongering way.)
4. tax sales (Another strange one.)
5. "rise of poker machines"
6. independent caregivers (in Mesa County, CO)
7. the service sector -- "Across the country, the service sector employs millions at shopping corridors, stadiums and tourist zones, locations that go virtually unregulated by labor laws or include special exemptions like the restaurant industry tip credit." [more]
8. immigration...in Sweden

It's an odd collection, yet one can glean from even this quick view of the data an interest in controlling how people earn a living, where they live and how they entertain themselves. No big surprises there, but we shall see what future samples of the Net add to this.

Ed vs. Claude Frédéric Bastiat

2010-09-29T02:22:00.013-05:00

It can be only a pleasant dream, I guess, but wouldn't it be wonderful if Frederic Bastiat could travel 160 or so years forward in time, get a plane ticket to the U.S. and be a guest on The Ed Show (MSNBC) or on a similar forum where cheap labor is still seen as a terrible threat?

Ed: "Big business addiction to cheap labor, in my opinion, is un-American. They have no sense of economic patriotism any more and it seems to me that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants to protect American [sic] jobs in India and doesn't give a damn about jobs in Indiana."

Bastiat: "If man were a solitary animal, if he worked solely for himself, if he consumed directly the fruits of his labor—in short, if he did not engage in exchange—the theory of scarcity could never have been introduced into the world. It would be all too evident, in that case, that abundance would be advantageous for him, whatever its source, whether he owed it to his industriousness, to the ingenious tools and powerful machines that he had invented, to the fertility of the soil, to the liberality of Nature, ox even to a mysterious invasion of goods that the tide had carried from abroad and left on the shore. No solitary man would ever conclude that, in order to make sure that his own labor had something to occupy it, he should break the tools that save him labor, neutralize the fertility of the soil, or return to the sea the goods it may have brought him. He would easily understand that labor is not an end in itself, but a means, and that it would be absurd to reject the end for fear of doing injury to the means...But exchange hampers our view of so simple a truth." [Bold added.]

Import more of Frenchman Bastiat's economic wisdom for $0/hour here.

Please Select Oppression Type Here

2010-09-27T17:57:00.003-05:00

Peter Schiff mentioned this on his video blog, so I decided to seek out the exact words of our president. They are:

"I think that America has a noble tradition of being healthily skeptical about government. That's in our DNA, right? (Applause.) I mean, we came in because the folks over on the other side of the Atlantic had been oppressing folks without giving them representation. And so we’ve always had a healthy skepticism about government. And I think that's a good thing."

(Emphasis added.)

Before It Was Banned...It Was Mandatory

2010-05-20T16:00:00.005-05:00

It seems like a good time to mention that there has never been a period in U.S. history during which racial discrimination was neither mandatory nor illegal. And this is not an oblique reference to Affirmative Action or any type of "reverse" discrimination. Most Jim Crow laws were ended by the Civil Rights Act of 1964--effectively banning the same discriminatory practices that were heretofore mandated by law in some places.

A sampling of Jim Crow laws (1880's-1960's):

Buses: All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races. Alabama

Barbers: No colored barber shall serve as a barber [to] white women or girls. Georgia

Housing: Any person...who shall rent any part of any such building to a negro person or a negro family when such building is already in whole or in part in occupancy by a white person or white family, or vice versa when the building is in occupancy by a negro person or negro family, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five ($25.00) nor more than one hundred ($100.00) dollars or be imprisoned not less than 10, or more than 60 days, or both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. Louisiana

Lunch Counters: No persons, firms, or corporations, who or which furnish meals to passengers at station restaurants or station eating houses, in times limited by common carriers of said passengers, shall furnish said meals to white and colored passengers in the same room, or at the same table, or at the same counter. South Carolina

More examples here.

PR0Nzi Scheme

2010-04-22T18:37:00.005-05:00

So that's why the SEC failed to bust Madoff. They were too, ahem, "busy."

Handy Reminder

2010-04-21T00:41:00.003-05:00

Do what government representatives say and you (probably) won't get beat up.

Apply this tip to:
movement across borders
insider trading
wage rates
hiring criteria
international trade
drug use
income (tax)
health care

and many, many more! More every day!

"...diabolical, ruthless bunch of bureaucrats..."

2009-11-07T19:48:00.005-06:00

Amy Poehler vehicle Parks and Recreation is starting to seem like an effective dramatization of public choice theory (relevant plot line begins at 1:40)...

Of peaceniks, Astroturfing and outside meddling

2009-08-11T19:12:00.007-05:00

As it is in places like Iran and Myanmar, so it is in the United States: ordering of society by government's shining stars could be so great, so smooth...if it just weren't for the interfering activists on the wrong (authority-questioning) side of the ideologic divide.

And the gas pedal is the main engine of the automobile

2009-08-01T02:16:00.007-05:00

"Consumer spending, the main engine of the U.S. economy..."

ABC World News, 7/31/2009

Seeking a Policy Policy

2009-07-22T21:31:00.007-05:00

This morning I called my insurance company and asked what kind of protection I can get against my country moving toward fascism. They said "none." I asked why not. Their reply: pre-existing condition.

- certified Vox Politico original humor, 7/22/09

False Choice

2009-07-21T22:35:00.001-05:00

Obama's (health care) proposals vs. "doing nothing."

Again.

Future GM Model Name Suggestions

2009-06-03T13:20:00.005-05:00

- Chevrolet Edict
- Cadillac IOU (in red only)
- Buick Teknokrat
- GMC Leviathan
- Chevy Coercer
- Cadillac Anchor
- Buick Bloodsucker
- GMC Truck Product #8Q722326.3

"GM Was So Awful, I Just Had To Buy It!" Said Every American

2009-05-28T19:55:00.002-05:00

"Enjoy!" replied the Universe.

This play was inspired by actual events.

It's So Amazing That Minimum Wage Increases Don't Hurt A Single Person

2009-05-28T16:41:00.003-05:00

The EPI study found the July 2007 minimum wage hike benefited over 700,000 families and added $1.7 billion in additional spending over the following year.
A July 2008 increase benefited over 1.3 million families and added $3.1 billion in additional spending over the following year, the EPI analysts added.

Yep, not a single person hurt. I'm dumbfounded. Stupefied. So much so that I now believe we should pass more and ever larger increases in the minimum wage so that we'll become wealthier and wealthier, ad absurdum.

Government's Fundamental Job?

2009-05-21T10:41:00.004-05:00

"[South Carolina's] top educator said Sanford was obstructing government's fundamental job of educating children."

Background here.

The Motor Law

2009-05-19T03:37:00.002-05:00

Seems like an appropriate video considering recent news.

Peter Schiff might run for Senate

2009-05-10T00:10:00.001-05:00

A police report

2009-04-23T12:57:00.002-05:00

Notice anything missing?

090002172 Society VICTIM of Fail To Identify Giving False/ficticious Info (C), at 18XX Texoma Pk, Sherman, TX, on 04/22/2009, 20:13. Reported: 04/22/2009. GANN, T. LW *LW30488*
[04/22/2009 22:58, TIMG, 42] T. Gann 134 On 04-22-09, Officer Rhoades arrested a female in the 1800 block of Texoma Pk. The female gave a false name. She was arrested for FAIL TO IDENTIFY. Fail To Identify Giving False/ficticious Info

http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=10235765

Geithner Asks Congress for Broad Power to Seize Firms

2009-03-24T10:42:00.005-05:00

The headline says it all.

Here's the article.

Infinite Excuses, Finite Resources

2009-03-11T00:12:00.006-05:00

It seems there is always some justification to be presented to we, the bankrupt citizen-shareholders in this grand enterprise.

For TARP it was "the far greater cost of doing nothing." Remember, anything other than massive forced indebtedness of citizens is "nothing."

For the bailout(s) of GM and Chrysler it was the "catastrophic" "ripple effects" of not confiscating people's money for the companies.

For the so-called stimulus package, it was the "consequences of inaction" (i.e., of not taking those hundreds of billions of dollars from wherever they were (or were not) and putting them where Congress and various other elected and non-elected officials decide to put it).

For various Federal Reserve acts of profligacy, which are difficult if not impossible to track or measure, it was variations on the same theme.

And now, for the $410 billion budget bill, it is "last year's business." (Is there an earmark for a time machine in there?) Yet, it represents "a clear win for Democrats..."

Generous above-inflation increases are spread throughout, including a $2.4 billion, 13 percent increase for the Agriculture Department and a 10 percent increase for the money-losing Amtrak passenger rail system.

No doubt life without the the next extended trip (Stimulus II?) into even deeper caverns of debt will be equally unthinkable to the Deciders.

Fine Point

2009-02-27T00:36:00.005-06:00

Clever, brief post over at FEE's blog. What can you do with individual effort? Who should do the things you can't do? Read it.

Comments on tonight's Obama speech

2009-02-24T20:48:00.005-06:00

- "We will" translates pretty reliably to "you must." ("we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years...We will soon lay down thousands of miles of power lines...we will invest fifteen billion dollars a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power...we will expand our commitment to charter schools...we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college...we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan...")

- Has Obama not seen the commercials? There is no (and can never be?) such a thing as "clean coal," according to them.

- "...the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it." Why not? And how do we know that Tesla and/or some other startups wouldn't create a better future American auto industry? Instead, we tax them to subsidize the Not-So-Big Three.

- "...we must have quality, affordable health care for every American." Saying "we must" have something does not change its affordability. When somebody comes up with a new drug or diagnostic technology, there is no automatic increase in national wealth that pays for every citizen to obtain that new drug or technology. Simple words can't change economic realities. They can persuade people to act in counterproductive and aggressive ways, however.

- The G.I. Bill: After Obama mentioned it I was interested to find that it is not an unquestioned success (which it sometimes seems to be). Here's proof.

- "...we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow." I'm not worried about a foreign worker/company out-competing an American worker/company. I'm not worried about a Louisiana worker/company out-competing a Texas worker/company. Etc. I've got bigger fish to fry.

Reuters: Not funding X same as banning X

2009-02-15T18:16:00.005-06:00

It's nice that in the third paragraph the writer of this news article finally gets around to stating what actually is at issue after grossly misstating it in the opening paragraph. (The headline is also false, but editors, rather than reporters, are often to blame for these.)

Hey, I'm all for embryonic stem cell research. I feel no compassion for small clumps of cells in petri dishes. But, no matter how many times it is stated this way in articles and editorials, refusing to fund something is not the same as banning it. In fact, government funding for a thing means every taxpayer is forced to pay for that thing, including those who oppose that thing.

If most citizens understood these two truths, we would have ourselves a more peaceful world:

It is perfectly consistent to oppose a practice and oppose banning that practice.
It is perfectly consistent to support a cause and oppose government funding of that cause.

What happened to the economy?

2008-12-19T17:58:00.002-06:00

the ONION explains.

Accidental Economic Editorializing

2008-12-17T03:14:00.005-06:00

Some opinions are so ingrained in a subculture that that subculture is not even aware that they are not facts, but opinions. There are few if any more certain indicators of being out of touch with the intellectual climate than to not be aware that some visible and accomplished members of the population not only do not share this assumption of facthood, but are actually demonstrating superior situational awareness in contradicting it than are proponents of said opinions in espousing it.

That is the best I can do right now to summarize my thoughts a few hours after watching an astonishing episode of ABC's World News Tonight (12/16/08). The lead report, of course, begins with coverage of the Federal Reserve's historic interest rate action. The opinion-as-fact comes when the report segues to consumer credit:

"But, the economy won't improve until interest rates fall for consumers as well."

But, this is an opinion, not an established fact. Evidence here, here, here and heck, even here.

Comparing models

2008-12-03T05:45:00.003-06:00

I'm fascinated by Peter Schiff lately. Jim Rogers too. Here is a great compilation of Peter on various business news shows. I wonder if those other guests would still yuk it up if they watched this. I would hope not, but they'd probably have some cya excuse for their uselessness.

There's Always ToBorrow

2008-10-15T18:37:00.005-05:00

Plan A: make everyone buy bad loans
Plan A': make everyone forcibly buy part of the banks
Plan A'' [in development]: make everyone buy a new house
Plan B [in reserve]: make everyone buy a Hummer

Wouldn't anti-depressants be cheaper?

2008-10-03T00:02:00.011-05:00

Citizens,

If we are to believe the timbre of the informational ether, we are at a crook in the mixed shit creek economy. There is, we are lectured, finally and unfortunately, no choice remaining. We must bail out...Congress. Also the Bush administration, the red and blue Presidential hopefuls, and the respectable media. The epochal legislation under consideration has simply been made to seem too important not to pass. Credit is obviously frozen because members of Congress and the mainstream Presidential candidates are getting nary a trickle. Furthermore, talking news heads and experts (and ex-experts) went balls out for the Wall Street welfare tsunami and, after being flabbergasted by popular opposition (which temporarily increased liquidity in some commentators' collective pants), find themselves in need of a rescue plan. Clearly, this cannot stand. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is impolite to point out that when the wisdom of the entire governing industry and its 24-hour PR wing proves to be of the sub-prime variety, the public personas of the pro-bailout, bi-partisan, bi-cameral Centristocracy must receive from their subjects the approbatory absolution that only a geyser of U.S. Mint ink can deliver. They are, you must understand, too big to fail.

Want to borrow some money?

2008-09-29T18:14:00.004-05:00

You may not have to look far:

"Banks throughout the United States carried on with the business of making loans yesterday even as federal officials warned again that their industry is on the verge of collapse, suggesting that the overheated language on Capitol Hill may not reflect the reality on many Main Streets."

more...

btw, herez sum $ 4 ford, etc.

2008-09-28T22:58:00.003-05:00

Oh, and, fyi, we're also bailing out some people who make cars. Don't worry, it's just $25 billion.

Con.sens.us

2008-09-28T21:15:00.006-05:00

The vocabulary of the bailout is interesting and sad. I'd like to have a list of the words used to describe the supposed consequences of "doing nothing" (for only government action counts). Just tonight on ABC News I heard "abyss," "collapse," "catastrophe," and "we don't even want to think about it." (There's an intellectual approach.) Their reporters go on to say that a) we don't know whether the bailout will work and, strangely, b) there is a consensus that not passing a plan would be "far worse." Than what? Burning $700,000,000,000 in future taxes for nothing? I'm also curious to know how a consensus can exist when 160 or so economists, including three nobel-prize-winning ones signed a letter urging caution--at least with regard to Paulson's original proposal. Excerpt:

If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America's dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.

Some even question whether it's true that credit is frozen. (Listen to the news and you'll hear that claim repeated unquestioningly and frequently.)

VOCABULARY UPDATE: "...we do not want to live in a world that will exist without this rescue plan." -Art Hogan , Chief Investment Officer, Jefferies & Co., interviewed on ABC World News With Charles Gibson, 9/29/08

The McSky is Falling!

2008-09-24T03:22:00.004-05:00

I thought I smelled something Filet-O-Fishy when I heard about this story on ABC News last night...

McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant company, told some U.S. franchisees to seek other ways to finance store improvements after Bank of America Corp. declined to increase lending.
Store owners have exhausted financing used to pay for upgrades and equipment to make lattes and espressos, and Bank of America won't provide more money as it works on the planned purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co., McDonald's said in a memo that was obtained by Bloomberg News.

The boys on MSNBC/CNBC are using it as I type to impress upon the naughty populous that it had better get in line behind the Big Bailout or else!

Now the clarifications appear to be flying:

McDonald's said franchisees still have access to more than 50 national, regional and local lenders to provide financing.

"There are no credit issues at McDonald's," spokesman Walt Riker said in an email. "There continues to be more than sufficient liquidity available to our franchisees to fund capital improvements in their restaurants."

And, of course, since you need a new car to drive through the drive-thru, the same ABC News segment threw in a mention of the apparently increasing difficulty of borrowing (as opposed to saving up) money to buy a new car every couple of years.

But the biggest financing problem financing dealers face right now is one brought on by auto dealers and auto financing companies themselves, said Tawny Arnaud, vice president of sales for Galpin Motors, a chain of nine dealerships in the Los Angeles area.
Many customers who want to trade in vehicles today are still paying off extra-long loans they arranged on their last car purchase, he said. Loans of long as or six years have become commonplace in the industry.

Well, mercy!

Revolution Devolution

2008-09-23T03:23:00.005-05:00

Ron Paul endorses Baldwin.

This seems odd as Baldwin seems to endorse allowing terrorist bombings of abortion clinics, prohibition of drugs (abortion pills), using police powers of the state to violently force rape victims to bear rapists' children, etc.:

"I affirm the God-given legal person hood of all unborn human beings, without exception...Under my administration, we could end legal abortion in a matter of days, not decades. And if Congress refuses to pass Dr. Paul's bill, I will use the constitutional power of the Presidency to deny funds to protect abortion clinics. Either way, legalized abortion ends when I take office." (emphasis added)

Solution: another government agency?

2008-09-18T16:01:00.003-05:00

And free money for some, it seems. Must be nice...

"Wachovia Corp. soared 59 percent, Citigroup Inc. added 19 percent and Bank of America Corp. jumped 12 percent, sending the KBW Bank Index to its biggest gain since July. Morgan Stanley erased a 46 percent tumble and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recovered most of a 25 percent slide as Senator Charles Schumer proposed a new agency to pump capital into financial companies..."
[Bloomberg]

Federal Government Taking Control of Apple, Inc.

2008-09-16T23:09:00.003-05:00

Next iPhone to include Homeland Security chip

Think I'm kidding? Okay, I am, but don't be a jerk and claim this is as outlandish as it was, oh, two weeks ago. Maybe it would be good if the Feds did nationalize Apple. Maybe more people would pay attention to the consequences of real concentrations of real power (as opposed to the highly contingent power of, say, a Merrill Lynch). And, hey, we'd have a Secretary of Mac. I nominate this guy.

Some of the better analysis I've seen

2008-09-04T22:42:00.001-05:00

Latest Poll Reveals 430 New Demographics That Will Decide Election

Helping Obama

2008-08-28T22:17:00.005-05:00

Obama orated:

"I don't know anyone who benefits when...an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers."

Three suggestions:
1. the illegal workers: go from zero income to non-zero income
2. the employer: saves money on wages
3. consumers: pay lower prices
(For outsourcing, replace "illegal workers" with "foreign workers.")
(For automation, replace "hiring illegal workers" with "installing robots" and omit #1 since robots don't care about wages.)

How To Achieve Energy Independence

2008-08-28T22:03:00.002-05:00

Ban energy imports tomorrow.

There. Happy?

Current Candidate Grades

2008-08-28T21:54:00.003-05:00

McCain-
economy: C
foreign policy: D
civil liberties: D

Obama-
economy: D
foreign policy: C+
civil liberties: C

Disclaimer: these grades are based on Vox Politico's current assessment only.

Boon To Pickens

2008-08-25T22:51:00.006-05:00

There's an interesting article at Popular Mechanics about some lesser-known aspects of "the Pickens Plan," that energy initiative/commercial that's all over screens lately.

"Pickens is in the planning stages of a $1.5 billion initiative to pump billions of gallons of water from an ancient aquifer beneath the Texas Panhandle and build pipelines to ship them to thirsty cities such as Dallas...a continuation of the drought impacting large portions of the United States could turn Pickens into something of a water baron. His yet-to-be-built pipeline would follow the same 250-mile corridor as electric lines carrying power from his wind farms."

An important detail here: "Specifically, Pickens asked Congress to extend a 2005 law intended to speed up the creation of energy corridors, and to give him control over any transmission lines he builds for wind-generated power."

I have some things I'd like Congress to give me control over, too. I promise something good for the general public would come out of it. That's not a legally binding promise, of course.

Update (10/7): Pickens's new commercial encourages viewers to ask of political candidates: "What's their plan for cutting foreign oil imports?" and "How soon can we get started?" Let's see, a political plan to cut imports--what does that usually look like? Pickens says he is dead serious about this. Good choice of words.

The high cost of bitterness

2008-06-11T00:58:00.004-05:00

A colleague recently pointed me to Coyote Blog. There I found this short entry about a mysterious power of price changes. Minutes later I was gathering some newsprint for my parrot's cage when I came across an interesting example of this dynamic--in our leftweekly. Raise your mugs!

Good Price, Bad Price

2008-03-27T18:21:00.002-05:00

Are high gasoline prices bad but high home prices good? Why?

Does the governor of New York want prostitution decriminalized?

2008-03-10T23:43:00.004-05:00

Governor Eliot Spitzer is in some trouble for, apparently, hiring a prostitute. Does he (and his supporters) think prison is the right societal response to prostitution? Or does he (and his supporters) now think selling sex should be legal? Or, a third option: does he (and his supporters) think the law is right except that it should not apply to certain special individuals? To summarize, which of the following does Gov. Spitzer (and you-know-who) favor?:

a. legalization for all [here's video of George Carlin's take--with two cuss words in first 12 seconds]
b. exemptions for some [insert Spitzer's legal defense team's statements here]
c. imprisonment for Eliot [seems unlikely, but then again...]

'Tardette bile eruption takes form of endorsement

2008-02-27T16:41:00.007-06:00

Big surprise. A bland, connect-the-dots, yet successfully putrid piece boosting Ron Paul's Congressional primary opponent issues from 'Tardette. It's unclear whether this sad little crew will ever get over witnessing a phenomenal, long shot, but burgeoning challenge to correct social regimentation. They may realize that Ron Paul's run this past year has been, in bizspeak, almost all "upside" for his supporters. This would explain anti-Paul types being keen to help find some "downside."

Is murder unconstitutional?

2008-02-21T23:11:00.008-06:00

In her opening statement at tonight's Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton stated:

I want to stop the health insurance companies from discriminating against people because they're sick. You know, it's unconstitutional to discriminate on the basis of race or gender or ethnic origin or religion, but it's okay to discriminate against sick people and we're gonna end that, because it's time we said, "no more."

[Applause]

So, is it reasonable to ask which part of the Constitution forbids private parties, like insurance companies, from discriminating "on the basis of race or gender or ethnic origin or religion?" And, if that section doesn not turn up, is it reasonable to question whether Hillary Clinton has a firm command of the basics of our founding document? Or maybe it was a simple slip-up. Maybe Hillary Clinton does not equate laws with the Constitution. Perhaps there is some other explanation. It would be nice to know the answer. [Disclaimer: if the U.S. Constitution is merely an antiquated document preserving historically interesting but outdated ideas, please disregard these questions.]

Bad experience

2008-02-19T19:25:00.007-06:00

Much is made of McCain's vast experience, Clinton's modest or non-traditional experience, and Obama's comparatively thin experience. But quality, in the case of choosing a president (which, today, has so much more power than quaint American presidents of the past), looms large. If it's bad experience, it wouldn't seem to be very beneficial to a candidate's resume. Quite the opposite.

Put defending preemptive war, promoting unconstitutional legislation, and pursuing seemingly endless increases in the scope and scale of government in the "bad experience" column.

Not the Taliban

2008-02-03T14:54:00.000-06:00

It's worth seriously asking what kind of regime we are supporting in Afghanistan. Consider the frightening case of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, sentenced to death for distributing a report critical of treatment of women in some Islamic societies. From Wired:

He was tried by a sharia court (which oversees Islamic religious law) and was not allowed legal representation, according to news reports. The Afghan Senate passed a motion this week supporting the sentence, according to the British newspaper The Independent.

More...

Fourth Be$t Day Ever

2008-02-01T13:32:00.000-06:00

Paul seems to be headed for his fourth $1 million+ fundraising day:

He raised more than any other Republican last quarter.

Three little "typos"

2008-02-01T11:57:00.001-06:00

Yes, just a few trivial errors in today's New York Times Politics Blog entry about Ron Paul's new adviser.

#1: The first time he is mentioned (on the fourth line of the entry), he is given the wrong first name. The name is Peter, not Paul, Schiff. Oops.

#2: Grammatically, the third paragraph states that Peter Schiff is the author of "The Federal Mafia" and other books. He's not. His father, Irwin, is. Whoops.

#3: The author states that Ron Paul "wants to eliminate income and estate taxes and taxes on tips, imposing instead a consumption tax," when, in fact, Paul has repeatedly explained (on television and elsewhere) that he does not want to replace the income tax with a consumption tax nor any other new tax. Umm...

Just nitpicks really. I'm sure the rest is fine.

AP's Selective Memory

2008-01-30T02:38:00.000-06:00

"Texas Rep. Ron Paul has made no move to withdraw even though he scores in single digits in voting." - Associated Press, 1/30/08

"Nevada - 1797 of 1797 Precincts Reporting...Paul , Ron...14%" - Associated Press, undated article

"Iowa results...Ron Paul 10 percent" - Associated Press, 1/4/08

Wait, what?

2008-01-28T10:28:00.000-06:00

Are we really going to add to our $9,200,000,000,000 national debt to send checks to every couple earning less than $174,000, etc.!? It's looking that way, sadly. What's next, self-esteem classes for supermodels? More cold water here.

Standard Error

2008-01-26T11:04:00.000-06:00

Newcomer Kevyn Peak tangles with The Weekly Standard (whose article tries to throw out principle and run with "virtue" alone):

"Sure, 'men must govern men'--FDR, Nixon, Clinton, Ted Stevens...the lot of them! The trillion-dollar question is: govern how much? Excessive governing, often sanctified by moral authorities of the day, has proven to be far more noxious than run-of-the-mill weak virtue. Better a hungover neoliberal than a lucid authoritarian."

Full article.

I couldn't have said it better myself! ;)

around every corner...

2008-01-22T18:48:00.001-06:00

Terrorism, not Starbucks. On tonight's Hardball with Chris Matthews NY Congressman Peter King, "homeland security advisor" to Rudy Giuliani, arguing with McCain's national co-chair Tom Ridge, says that his boss "knows that Islamic terrorism is everywhere." Not worries, not suspects, but knows...everywhere! How's that for a realistic, cool-headed commander-in-chief?

Thompson is out

2008-01-22T15:05:00.000-06:00

So here is a refresh of the list of Republican candidates, ranked by success so far:*

1. McCain
2. Romney
3. Huckabee
4. Paul
5. Thompson
6. Giuliani
7. Hunter
8. Tancredo
9. Brownback
10. Tommy Thompson
11. Gilmore
12. Keyes (?)

* as judged by VoxPolitico.com--based on votes and sticktoitiveness

former NM Governor endorses Paul

2008-01-22T12:23:00.000-06:00

Gary Johnson, Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003, has endorsed Ron Paul for President.

kicking in another million or two

2008-01-21T16:27:00.000-06:00

Ron Paul is having his 3rd best fundraising day of the campaign...

GOP Rankings, part 2

2008-01-08T22:22:00.000-06:00

Here are the % totals from Iowa + NH:

Romney: 57
McCain: 50
Huckabee: 45
Paul: 18
Thompson: 15
Giuliani: 12
Hunter: 1

Jay Leno on Fox debate snub of Ron Paul

2008-01-08T02:15:00.000-06:00

"I thought it was blatantly unfair."

Video here.

Part 1.

King Of All Media

2008-01-08T01:58:00.000-06:00

"I've gotta tell you about this guy, Ron Paul. He's fantastic."

Howard Stern (NSFW)

DD for RP

2008-01-08T01:50:00.000-06:00

"If you want your country back then vote for Ron Paul for president."

Donna D'Errico

'Tardette dances spastically on Ron Paul's grav...

2008-01-04T04:21:00.000-06:00

...itas. 'Tardette, who "don’t care about [Ron Paul] one way or the other," have gotten their keyboards damp with bile and copy/paste residue over Ron Paul's showing in Iowa. Because, you know, Paul did so terribly. For one thing, he got barely more than twice the votes of recent national leader Rudy Giuliani. Worse, he only got 37% more votes than polls predicted, merely almost tying two "top tier" candidates. How can Paul and his supporters ever hope to affect American politics if they merely break fundraising records, reintroduce unfashionable ideas to millions, repeatedly put libertarianism in the mainstream spotlight, ignite a new movement on college campuses, dominate online political activism, outperform seven (of eleven) opponents thus far, and so on? Don't they have to rank higher in Iowa to move the country toward accursed individual freedom? It's enough to make a 'Tardette care!

The "frightening" idea of leaving people be

2008-01-04T03:12:00.000-06:00

Video: reason editor stands up to O'Reilly.

GOP Results So Far (Inclusive Version)

2008-01-04T01:55:00.000-06:00

Republican candidates ranked by success through the Iowa caucuses:*

1. Huckabee
2. Romney
3. Thompson
4. McCain
5. Paul
6. Giuliani
7. Hunter
8. Tancredo
9. Brownback
10. Tommy Thompson
11. Gilmore
12. Keyes

* as judged by VoxPolitico.com--based on votes then sticktoitiveness

See "What is at stake"

2008-01-02T13:54:00.000-06:00

Try moving the slider back and forth at this site and see some consequences of choosing Ron Paul...or some of his opponents...

Slow learner?

2007-12-18T19:11:00.000-06:00

SurveyUSA is still not including the (likely) top Republican fundraiser in their polls. Is it just to be different? Might I suggest a body piercing instead?

Lingering bias -- death by a thousand cuts?

2007-12-17T15:02:00.000-06:00

It's hard not to see when you're attuned (some might say hypersensitive) to it.

A fresh example: would you know that Ron Paul polled the same as Mitt Romney in the latest Quinnipiac poll in New York from looking at RealClearPolitics here or here? But, he did:

"...and 5 percent each for Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today." [12/17/07]

(It's also worth noting that Paul's 5% is up from 1% in October, whereas Romney's is down from 7%.)

Yet how many other sites and news anchors will cite RealClearPolitics and, like them, leave out Ron Paul's tie with a "top tier" candidate (albeit near the bottom of the crowd, but above Tancredo and Duncan)? What is the cumulative effect of a thousand such slights?

Welcome...

2007-12-16T23:05:00.000-06:00

...refugees from crashed Paul sites... ;)

Atop Drudge

2007-12-16T15:39:00.001-06:00

They're noticing

2007-12-16T14:09:00.000-06:00

We're gonna need a bigger blimp

2007-12-16T12:30:00.000-06:00

Farmocracy

2007-12-15T18:26:00.000-06:00

"[Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner] said...Congress should deny farm subsidies to people with more than $200,000 a year in adjusted gross income."

Wow, $200k. That shouldn't be too controversial.

"The Senate would block subsidies to people with more than $750,000 a year in adjusted gross income from the 2010 crop year unless at least 67 percent of their income is from farming. The House would bar payments to anyone with an AGI above $1 million and a $500,000 AGI limit for part-time farmers."

Oh.

"When I get all steamed up..."

2007-12-15T15:33:00.000-06:00

The calm before the (second) storm

2007-12-14T16:15:00.000-06:00

Week-on-week Q4 fundraising by Ron Paul here.

Last three weeks only here.

A pretty steep drop-off, right?

Storm...here. Think green tea.

He's already at $11.43 million of his $12 million Q4 goal--a goal which, in October, seemed too high. This weekend the campaign will wave at that quaint marker as they depart the tea-steeped harbor for...interesting seas.

Meanwhile, in the other Carolina

2007-12-14T13:30:00.000-06:00

The blimp is aloft.

And 500+ people are watching live video--when it works--from inside one of the chase cars:

Watch live video from ronpaulblimp on Justin.tv

Clumped in Carolina

2007-12-14T12:20:00.000-06:00

South Carolina, that is...

Numbers for this chart are taken from CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll (reported here).

So who is The Kurgan?

2007-12-13T16:44:00.000-06:00

True, "there can be only one." But Ron Paul wants to give the Prize back to the People. (For non-Highlander fans: the Queen song in the video was part of the soundtrack.)

Oh, The...Humanity?

2007-12-12T15:41:00.000-06:00

'Tardette is on top of the "incompetence" of independent Ron Paul supporters (who have apparently maxed out on legal direct donations). Incompetence = efforts to organize the flying of a giant blimp promoting Ron Paul up the East coast just before the anticipated record-re-breaking fundraiser being behind schedule. Can the campaign survive this disaster?

But Reagan and McDonald still own "Ronald"

2007-12-12T14:38:00.000-06:00

Top "Ron"'s at Google:
1- the 2008 presidential candidate
2- the Harry Potter character
3- the Italian musician

Top "Paul"'s at Google:
1- the Apostle
2- the 2008 presidential candidate
3- the Beatle

Tom Tancredo Revolution

2007-12-12T13:37:00.000-06:00

Tancredo is leading Glenn Beck's web poll (right side, half way down). Well now, why do you suppose that might be...?

Must..Resist..Family..Guy..Reference

2007-12-12T01:04:00.000-06:00

Elise Hu, a TV reporter from down the road blogs about Gov. Rick Perry being quizzed about Ron Paul...

Did you consider Ron Paul?
No, I did not.
Why?
I just didn't. I didn't ever consider Ron Paul.

More...

Nice job, Elise.

Interesting Numbers*

2007-12-12T00:53:00.000-06:00

Where in the World is the U.S. Military? Here are a few* places:

South Korea: 28,000
Japan: 48,000
Germany: 64,000
the rest of Europe (excluding Bosnia & Kosovo): 24,000

* Based in part on 2005 numbers. More here.

'Tardette: Does Surgeon General want to kill Santa?

2007-12-10T15:58:00.000-06:00

"This is kind of like Ron Paul wanting to be president even though he doesn’t believe in government."

Right, 'cause we all know that if we want to make something smaller, it follows that we don't "believe in" it in any form. This in a post about a Christian biologist's conflict with his ex-employer over evolution.

By this logic, it is clear that when the Surgeon General and others call for Santa to slim down, what they really want is for the jolly old elf to be eliminated entirely and the North Pole left in anarchy.

Of course, this might make sense given Santa's well-known silence on living wages, workplace safety, norms of international trade, and his cheerful flouting of FAA rules and our national borders. Not to mention his failure to invite IAEA inspectors to his workshop.

Gulf War Song

2007-12-09T15:08:00.000-06:00

Remember this song? (Visuals added by the Youtube poster.)

Stossel interviews Paul

2007-12-07T22:08:00.000-06:00

John Stossel interviews Ron Paul. Internet only. This is apparently the first of several parts (explained here).

no street corner offices, except those* street corner offices

2007-12-07T18:54:00.000-06:00

Today at Harper's, Ken Silverstein quotes Tom Edmonds, "a prominent conservative political consultant" as saying: "You can’t go to the street corner and find a Ron Paul for President office, but you can go online."

The only problem with this, of course, is all those actual "street corner" Ron Paul for President offices...

* "Ron Paul opened a campaign office this afternoon in Charleston, S.C. -- his third in a state that traditionally has been crucial to deciding who Republicans nominate for president."

* "Backers of GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul opened his Minnesota headquarters, taking aim at the Feb. 5 caucuses."

* Grand Opening of Ron Paul Council Bluffs Headquarters [Iowa]

* Iowa HQ Office Location:
Des Moines Bldg, 405 - 6 Av, # 104
Des Mones IA 50309

*New Hampshire Campaign Headquarters
45 South Main Street
Concord, NH 03301

* "It's finally happening: A Republican presidential campaign has taken notice of the tight race for Nevada 's early caucuses and shelled out for staff, an office and advertising here. And the candidate is (drumroll please) Ron Paul." (29 Oct.)

* "At his new New York City campaign headquarters in Chelsea, the candidate spoke about his political platform, which emphasizes..."

I helpfully supplied these (there are undoubtedly more) to Mr. Silverstein, but he replied: "thanks for note. i knew there were some offices but think the point he was making holds..."

The point that Ron Paul has little non-Internet presence? I thought that had been debunked. Maybe if we could see a breakdown of how many offices each candidate has. Ah, but then it would be how many people are working in those offices. And then how many paid staff. And then what time they open and close each day.

It seems as if Job 1 is making the narrative work. When Ron Paul's 8% in their NH poll didn't fit into their story, Newsweek and MSNBC simply removed it. I've seen at least one other outfit do the same thing (i.e., not cut him off at the bottom, but excise him from the middle of the field).

not worthy of consideration

2007-12-07T17:33:00.000-06:00

Since I linked below to the Des Moines Register's announcement of their decision to consider Tancredo, for example, but not Ron Paul, in their series of issue-by-issue endorsements, here is the email I sent to them:

Dear Editor:

Ron Paul "didn't make the cut" to even be in the running for the Register's endorsement. That would be unfortunate if he is, in fact, the best candidate.

I must say I'm disappointed and surprised that you would choose to exclude Ron Paul--the only GOP candidate who voted against "the mistaken invasion of Iraq" before it commenced and who is campaigning against it. Nobody forced the Register's editorial board to design a rule that excludes the candidate who is the likely top fund-raiser this quarter, who has been climbing in state and national polls, who has won 24 (non-online) straw polls (including yesterday's by the Republican Party of Virginia), and who has views markedly different from the pack on at least four of the eight issues you outlined. Nobody forced you to include, instead, a candidate who is stagnant and next to last in the polls, who blends in with the mean candidate's views, and who has no significant financial support nor grassroots enthusiasm.

You write that "the deciding factor was time spent in Iowa."

This might be helpful for maintaining Iowa's standing as an early proving ground, but is it the most important basis for deciding who will be in a position to defend or degrade our Constitution? Who will be able to bomb--or not bomb--our "enemy" du jour?

I hope that you will reconsider these unfortunately contorted criteria, and the resulting homogeneous set of candidates, in time to give due consideration to who is credibly advocating the most important principles of our time.

Regards...

Poll w/o Paul

2007-12-05T16:58:00.000-06:00

A pollster (SurveyUSA*) that is still not including Ron Paul by name in polls?! Others somehow manage to include him (note uptrend). Survey says "X."

* "...an independent, non-partisan, full-service opinion polling firm." Okay, but...well, at least they're not including Tancredo instead.

'Tardette obsession continues

2007-12-05T13:33:00.000-06:00

One constant of the Ron Paul caravan--well, since mid-November, anyway--has been the compulsive barking and nipping of the liberal(?) web site Wonkette. Take today's delicious development (and video), which made it onto Drudge, of the SF GOP idiotically resorting to canceling their own straw poll lest another Ron Paul victory be visited upon Republicans (25 and counting). (Why 'Tardette? I normally don't believe in name-calling, but 'Tardette is so proud of theirs, I felt it appropriate to make an exception. I considered Wonktard, but it seems too copycatish.)

More video.

p.s. Welcome to Vox Politico! Non-blog stuff here.