Free kibbles

TAX AND SPEND:

Who's surprised that Greece suffers (maybe that's the wrong word) massive tax evasion with the confiscatory tax rates it has? You cannot tax your way to prosperity. You can't tax your way to fiscal responsibility.

It takes a seriously twisted person to blame the panic over Greece's debt on Germany.

The problem is spending, not taxes. Taxes are just a symptom. Note to Sarah Palin since she apparently doesn't even remember the 80s: starving the beast doesn't work.

REGULATION:

Of course Dodd's bill attacks financial privacy. It's the nature of regulations to invade privacy.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Obama nominates inflation lovers to the Fed. That's part of his plan to collapse our economy. Obama wants to turn the US into Zimbabwe.

HEALTH CARE:

Constitutional problems with Obamacare mandate, but don't count on the court to overrule Congress. It almost never does.

GLOBAL WARMING:

Virginia attorney general opens fraud investigation on Michael Mann to see if he perpetrated a fraud with Virginia tax dollars when he was at the University of Virgina. This is great news. Pennsylvania should be so concerned about tax dollars. Every act by a politician is politically motivated, but scientists aren't exempt from fraud laws. I hope he subpoenas all Mann's data and programs and makes them public. More.

"In papers sent to UVA April 23, Cuccinelli’s office commands the university to produce a sweeping swath of documents relating to Mann’s receipt of nearly half a million dollars in state grant-funded climate research conducted while Mann— now director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State— was at UVA between 1999 and 2005."

This is excellent news. Mann was in Virginia when he produced the hockey stick fraud.

"The Attorney General has the right to make such demands for documents under the Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, a 2002 law designed to keep government workers honest."

You need a special law to prosecute government workers for fraud? Only government.

Pair of photos taken 130 years apart show that sea level has not changed over that time.

MSM parrots alarming headline about melting sea ice raising ocean levels, but they fail to mention that they would only account for 49 thousandths of a millimeter a year.

Exploding the claim that melting arctic sea ice is warming the arctic. Arctic sea ice is pretty much the same as always.

WAR ON DRUGS:

Ralph Peters understands the problem in Mexico:

"Drug wealth fuels criminal empires. Those narco-empires are now so powerful that they've risen against the state. Human trafficking is a useful sideline for drug lords. And illegal immigration drives crime rates in bankruptcy-threatened US cities and states.

Cross-border trade's the next target. Narco-insurgents now feel sufficiently confident to attack Mexican army installations and US consulates. The maquiladoras, those thousands of assembly plants along the border, won't escape the mayhem. Given their enormous contribution to Mexico's fiscal stability and employment rates, those plants are obvious targets as the narco-challenge to the state intensifies."

"The rule of law has collapsed from Tijuana on the Pacific's edge to Matamoros and the Gulf of Mexico. Major cities are now "ungoverned spaces," as our diplomats refer tidily to distant trouble spots.

More people now die violently on our southern border than in Somalia, Yemen or even Afghanistan."

Peters makes a great case that our war on drugs is turning Mexico into a failed state much like Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan, and that this war must spill over into the US (more than it already has). But does he propose the simple, obvious solution? Of course not.

POLICE STATE:

Federal wiretaps skyrocketed since Obama took office, a 70 percent increase over 2008. They must be listening to those tea partiers.

WAR:

Why are we providing security welfare to South Korea?

"Why should one of the world's most prosperous nations have to worry about its own defense, after all, when Uncle Sam has willing to do the dirty work for six decades? As an expatriate who pays taxes to the Korean government, I thank my fellow Americans, who, through their duly elected representatives, have agreed to reduce my tax burden here and pick up the tab themselves. Koreans will not be thanking you. You can rest assured that your sons (and daughters) will remain here within distance of the Dear Leader's artillery and missiles, protecting Koreans from themselves."

We're stupid. I had no idea that it has been confirmed that North Korea had sunk that South Korean warship. And the South just let them get away with it. That's nuts. This is nuclear blackmail.

"Doug Bandow's latest on the subject said it best: "the South Koreans would be better served by having a freer hand – without U.S. interference – and the U.S. would be better served without a South Korea that may eventually drag them into another war" (Time To Leave Korea)."

I can't argue with Doug Bandow about that. I'm afraid by now it's too late to use force to stop the Korean nuclear weapons program. I'm afraid because of our failure to act before NK developed nuclear weapons, deterrence is our only option. Thanks, China.

What if the shoe was on the other foot?

"What if a small group of extremist Americans high-jacked passenger planes in another country and flew them into skyscrapers in a major foreign city killing thousands of innocent people? Would it then be proper and moral for that country, and with the full use of its military, to attack and occupy the entire United States? Would it then be right for that invading army to take over and demand that all U.S. citizens bow to their command? Would it be right for that country’s forces to kill and maim all who refused to comply with their demands? And would it be right for that foreign invading entity to destroy the entire infrastructure of America?"

This situation is ridiculous. If a group of Americans had done that, we would have hunted them down, arrested them and turned them over to the target country for prosecution. If we were unable or unwilling to do so, then the victim country would certainly invade the US to hunt them down on its own. As for having a right to occupy the entire country, of course not, just as we have no right to do that in Afghanistan.

Doug Bandow and Malou Innocent from Cato are reporting from Afghanistan. Cool.

"But not all is good in Afghan-allied relations. A NATO military action recently killed the family of a top government official, creating tensions. Only so often can one say, “Oops, we are sorry.”

Moreover, the government has initiated a crackdown on the sale of alcohol even to expatriates — one Afghan official called it a “war on alcohol.” Foreigners have been warned that carrying one bottle might be treated as “smuggling.” In fact, the government has established an alcohol “hotline” and businesses have been warned to beware of vengeful former employees."

It's a clash of civilizations, and we have no business trying to impose our values on them.


ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION:

Mark Steyn offers an immigrant's perspective on Arizona's new illegal immigration law.

"As I write, I have my papers on me - and not just because I'm in Arizona. I'm an immigrant, and it is a condition of my admission to this great land that I carry documentary proof of my residency status with me at all times and be prepared to produce it to law enforcement officials, whether on a business trip to Tucson or taking a 20-minute stroll in the woods back at my pad in New Hampshire."

Entertaining as always, but that doesn't erase the problem of empowering cops to harass any individual on a whim which, because power corrupts, and the more easily a law can be abused, the more it will be abused, will undoubtedly lead to increased police violence and corrupt prosecutions against citizens and legal immigrants.

MISC:

US [government] to keep heat on BP to stop oil leak because they're evil people and have no incentive to stop it otherwise.

"The U.S. government will keep a "boot on the neck" of BP Plc, as it responds to a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that threatens to become an economic and ecological catastrophe, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Sunday."

Thank goodness. Where would we be without government's boot on our necks? This is great insight into the minds of aristocrats. They understand the nature of government. They know it's violence, and they relish using that violence to force their will on others.

The cause of the oil rig explosion is still unknown. It's hard to find news on the second rig that collapsed shortly after this one.

We have some more details on this Times Square bomb.

"The car contained three propane tanks, consumer grade fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers and two clocks including batteries and a box resembling a gun locker, Kelly told reporters.

“It certainly could have exploded and have a decent amount of impact,” Bloomberg said.

Browne said the bomb was apparently in the process of detonating, but malfunctioned, the New York Times reported.

The wiring was “amateurish,” Bloomberg said in his briefing.

He also said the vehicle identification number had been removed from the SUV, and police discovered its license plates, registered in the state of Connecticut, had been removed from a different vehicle, a truck discarded by its former owner at a Connecticut junkyard.

The street vendor alerted the mounted police officer to the vehicle, which had been emitting white smoke, at 6:28 p.m., Bloomberg said. The officer called for backup, began removing pedestrians from the area."

And...

"Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the attempt appears to be a “one-off” event unrelated to any larger terrorist plot. She was interviewed today on ABC’s “This Week.” Later, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Napolitano said the incident “certainly looks” to be a terrorist act, although “it’s too soon to tell who was responsible.”"

It sounds like Napolitano knows nothing, but she's trying to keep people calm. Amateurish? Let me count the ways. Criminals aren't known for their brains, so maybe this guy or girl really thought it was worthwhile to file off the vehicle ID (which the cops will get anyway) and switch the plates (though that won't stop them from identifying the owner of the car for more than a few hours). Maybe he really did try to set up a scary looking bomb that wouldn't do much damage compared to the terrorists we're (unfortunately) used to. Maybe he really did try to rig it to blow up, and he just screwed up. But it seems more likely to me somebody staged a fake terrorist attack at the highest profile location in the country for whatever reason.

This list of possible creators only mentions the usual bogeymen and fails to mention a false-flag operation or other motive for faking an attack. "For some reason" it didn't explode. We're hearing a lot about the great job the cops did, and it sounds like they did a good job once the vendor informed them of this thing, but they didn't keep it from blowing up. They didn't save lives. The only reason this bomb didn't blow up before the cops had any idea what was going on is either it was never intended to blow up or the bomb-maker screwed up.

Man agrees to donate kidney to girl, but hospital refuses because the donor likes the girl. Apparently that invites the concern that he might get paid for his kidney even though there's no evidence of that. God forbid a kidney donor get compensated anyway.

Cork example shows how free markets naturally overcome monopolies. Government creates monopolies.