Free kibbles

SOCIALISM:

NLRB intimidation pressures IBM into new contract with union.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

How ECB rules fed the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

EDUCATION:

Ohio teachers are unhappy that their pay will be based on the performance of their students. I can see both sides of this. Everybody in the marketplace is judged based on performance, why not teachers? At the same time, some students just won't learn. For whatever reason, be it family problems, neighborhood problems, or whatnot, so students won't learn. Why should a good teacher be punished for having a bad student. One of the consequences of this policy is the best teachers will take the best students so they can make the best money. That will leave the worst teachers teaching the worst students. Teacher's also fear targeting by administrators, but everybody in the marketplace faces bias problems. That concern should be irrelevant.

"Teachers identified instances where principals “stacked” a class with low-performing students to make it difficult for a teacher to succeed. Some surveyed worried those practices could continue in cases where administrators wanted to target a teacher for removal."

But you have to group smart students and slow students. Otherwise the smart students are trapped at the pace of the slowest. There is no good solution based on coercion, but there is one easy solution for this: a free market in education.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Here's more proof that the Durban agreement is meaningless: Canada withdraws from the Kyoto agreement.

Island government mandates all power on island be produced by solar or coconut bio-fuel. If this was such a good idea, the people would already have done it voluntarily.

WAR ON DRUGS:

The war on drugs funds these drug tunnels.

"In the past five years, more than 100 drug tunnels between Mexico and the U.S. have been discovered. This is double the number found over the previous 15 years. Not only are they growing in number, but the tunnels are becoming much more sophisticated, including electric rail systems, hydraulic elevators, and secret entrances (one opened via a fake water tap)."

People worried about illegal immigrants are missing boat. Illegal immigrants piggy-back off this infrastructure created by the drug cartels and funded by the war on drugs. It's impossible to get control of the border as long as we're funding the drug cartels through the war on drugs. If you want to stop illegal immigration, you have to end the war on drugs so this infrastructure can be shut down nobody can afford to rebuild it.

POLICE STATE:

Obama busted for another lie. Obama had threatened to veto the defense authorization bill if it included a provision that the military could arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens, but now we find out Obama actually lobbied to put that provision in the bill.

Apparently predator drones are already being used often in the US.

"Local police say they have used the Predator drones for at least two dozen surveillance flights since June. The FBI and DEA have used the drones for domestic investigations as well."

That's in North Dakota.

FOREIGN POLICY:

North Korea threatens South Korea over Christmas lights. Why are US troops in the middle of this?

Confirmation that the Iranian government recovered a top secret, high tech US intelligence drone. Maybe they shouldn't have been flying it over Iran.

POLITICS:

NBA owner and Russian billionaire Prokhorov to run against Putin in Russia's presidential election. We'll see if he dies of radiation poisoning before the election.

Democrats and Republicans both target Gingrich.

This is a pretty interesting exchange between Romney and Gingrich.

"During an interview with Fox News, Romney called for Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to return $1.6 million in consulting fees he received from the troubled mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae."

Romney criticizes Newt for being a crony capitalist - a form of socialist - for selling access to his contacts. If I was a Republican, I would say that Newt and Clinton are identical in that regard. Both managed to make over $100 million by selling speeches and access in the corrupt political economy. Here's how Newt responds:

""If Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he has earned from bankrupting and laying off employees over his years at Bain (Capital), then I would be glad to then listen to him," Gingrich said. "And I bet you $10 - not $10,000 - that he wouldn't take the offer.""

Gingrich attacks Romney for being a capitalist and partaking in creative destruction. I keep saying Newt is a socialist, his record tells us so, but I'm surprised to see him blatantly admit it in this attack on Romney. That's exactly the kind of attack I would expect from a Democrat, not a Republican because Republicans have to pretend to support the marketplace. This also shows that Newt is not nearly as smart as everybody wants us to believe. Romney's record proves he's a socialist as well, but despite his time building on his father's fortune in the marketplace, I never thought Newt would present himself as more of a socialist than Romney.

Ron Paul rips Gingrich in a new email:

"You see, if you and I are truly serious about defeating President Obama in 2012 and turning our country around, nominating Newt Gingrich is the absolute LAST thing the Republican Party should do.
Newt Gingrich's record as the consummate Washington, D.C. insider is crystal clear. 
For his support of the individual mandate central to "ObamaCare" and other Big Government schemes, Newt raked in nearly $40 million from health care giants.
For his efforts to stop conservative legislators from working to end government involvement in housing, Newt got $1.6 million from Freddie Mac.
And Newt shamelessly referred to feathering his nest with taxpayer money as "the standard Washington fee."
And this is all while I was doing everything I could to warn my fellow Members of Congress about just how much damage the housing bubble would cause.
Sadly, Newt was the one Congress listened to, and America paid a steep price.
The truth is, selling access and padding your own personal bank accounts at the expense of your country is hardly conservative.
Neither is supporting $700 BILLION TARP bailouts.
Neither is cutting TV ads with Nancy Pelosi or cosponsoring over 400 bills with her.
Neither is consistently supporting "global warming" legislation and pushing the environmental alarmists' agenda.
Neither is voting with Ted Kennedy to create the Department of Education.
Neither is campaigning across the country with Al Sharpton and Obama's Education Secretary for even more Big Government federal "solutions" for our education system.
Neither is joining with Big Government liberals to slam Paul Ryan's attempt to get our federal budget under control as "right wing social engineering."

Of course, Newt loves to make sure we all know he knows a little about history.
But he constantly demands you and I just ignore his own!"

That's an impressively socialist record.

Speaking of crony capitalism, nice chart shows the overlap between Goldman Sachs and the federal government.

Government allows Occupy protesters to cripple operation of west coast ports. Don't you love the law and government provides for us?

LOCAL:

Bedbugs are another sign that our government is turning the US into a third world country.

Prediction of local job losses next quarter.