Free kibbles

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

Note to Occupiers: freedom of speech is not freedom to steal property as I explained here.

TAX AND SPEND:

This article claims House Republicans are taking a beating for not caving to the Senate's temporary extension of the payroll tax cut, but it offers no proof such as a poll to back it up. I'm no so sure that's true. I think the temporary tax cut will be extended, and I think it will be a non-issue in 2012.

 REGULATION:

Senators advise the FTC to investigate Google as a monopoly. This is a just a shakedown for more money.

Developers are already creating workarounds for SOPA censorship.

Now government wants to regulation sperm donation. It's a little scary to think how they might regulate this, if you know what I mean.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

In a shocking turnabout for the corrupt political economy, BP exits the solar energy boondoggle. It's hard to underestimate the significance of this. This means that major corporations, all tied so closely to government they might as well be government agencies, have realized that their political masters will no longer push the green agenda.

FOREIGN POLICY:

Lew Rockwell makes an important point about libertarianism, humanity and politics: what is more radical, engaging people (Iranians) in negotiations or bombing them to death? The answer is left as an exercise for the reader.

POLITICS:

Many of us learned about the problems Ron Paul had with his newsletter in 2008. The problems sprang from his mistake empowering somebody to write a newsletter in his name in the 1980s and 1990s. He addressed this many times during the 2008 campaign. But now that he's on the verge of winning in Iowa, the Republican establishment has released the dogs to attack him on this issue again. This is a legitimate issue, and Paul has handled it as well as possible. It's Paul's mistake, and he has to deal with it. So far, he's doing a good job dealing with it. But the establishment will use it to attack Paul unrelentingly because they can't attack him on policy.

LOCAL:

Here's a little tidbit to remind us that road projects are one of government's bread and butter looting programs: I-75 construction through Dayton to continue for six more years. But this baloney. It will never end. That six years will stretch to nine years, and before the nine years is up, they'll start new projects. It's been going on since the 1990s, and it'll never end. At least not until the government runs out of money.

Apparenlty Menards hasn't paid enough tribute to local politicians to get a new, extravagant store built. You would think that most big-time national businesses would know how to suck up to local politicians, but egos always clash. I bet Menards pays enough tribute to obtain permission to sell products to us. The politicians will win. Menard's will win. Menard's competition will lose and that mean consumers will lose. That's how government coercion works.

MISC:

I guess I'm young enough that it's hard for me to believe that somebody could so denigrate and desensitize "teen spirit" to this extent, yet Miley manages. She was such a talented and cute teen. Now she's a disaster. At least she's not Lindsay Lohan. Yet. Give a month.