Halloween, besides being fun, teaches kids valuable life lessons, and lessons of economics.
Those are the lessons of free exchange
The War in Iraq is not going swimmingly. There are a lot of problems with it, but there is some good news, it's not all that bad.
If you want to be disturbed by flash cartoons, hang up on Homestarrunner and Strongbad, and go directly to Salad Fingers.
Don't say you weren't warned.
Two major NBC shows that were hyped pretty much are gone! Studio 60, which despite the liberal slant and annoyingly fast dialogue I enjoyed, and the utterly horrible Twenty Good Years.
I totally forgot an important anniversary. October 22nd (last Sunday) was the 3rd anniversary of this Blog!
Happy Birthday to me!!
It seems Rush Limbaugh can't keep his fat mouth shut. He recently bad mouthed Michael J. Fox for an ad he appeared in supporting a Democratic candidate who is for government funded stem cell research.
I used to be a big Rush fan. I guess you'd call me a "ditto head". But as he more and more towed the Republican line, I stopped listening. This is the same Republican party that grossly overspends, and steps into our living rooms to control what we watch on TV (with an ever increasingly watchdog FCC), or whether we can smoke a joint to help our terminal cancer.
But now he's just become a mouthpiece for the Republican party, and I don't want to listen to that anymore.
Boston wants to ban satellite dishes. Saying they are ugly.
The Boston City Council, citing a proliferation of satellite television dishes across the city, is considering banning the devices from the front of buildings.Saying that the dishes are potentially dangerous and increasingly hard to overlook in parts of the city where some buildings are festooned with them, councilors plan to consider a measure to confine the satellite television receivers to the back of buildings, out of public view.
``For some, it's an eyesore," said Council President Michael Flaherty, who sponsored the measure. A public hearing before the council's Public Utilities and Cable Communications Committee is scheduled for Friday.
I wonder if they have any connections to local cable outlets?
Cato asks the questions of whether libertarians should vote for Democrats.
Short answer: Yes. Long answer? Read more.
It used to be soccer mom's or Nascar dads. These were the ways that politicians referred to the hip swing voter at the time. What is the new swing voter? Libertarians.
My former colleague David Kirby, now executive director of America’s Future Foundation, obtained data sets from Gallup, Pew Research Center, and the American National Election Studies. He did some original calculations to find libertarians in those polls, and then he and I wrote up the results. Without scooping our own story, I’ll just say that we found that a substantial percentage of voters are libertarian — not libertarians who can compare and contrast Hayek and Rand, but people whose views on broad issues distinguish them from both liberals and conservatives.
It looks again like I'm a hip guy.
Notre Dame's mascot is a short red headed man with a beard, wearing green. Running around and getting into fights.
 | I think this image is pretty insulting to Irish. To depict Irish as angry drunk people who want to fight is wrong (at least hypothetically). |
If you follow the NCAA you know they are cracking down on ethnic nicknames. If your school has a ethnic nickname, then you can be cut out of endorsements and post season play.
But are the Irish to follow these rules? In a word NO!
he University of North Dakota has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA over the latter’s mandate that the school drop its team logo and nickname, “The Fighting Sioux”, or face sanctions and fines in post-season play. This is all part of a larger NCAA ban on American-Indian based nicknames and logos in postseason tournaments.Why, you may ask? Because these nicknames are considered “hostile to Native Americans.” So, what do the Irish have to do with this? Well, there is a fairly well known college football team out of Indiana whose nickname is “The Fighting Irish” and last I heard the NCAA wasn’t particulary concerned over hostility towards our friends from the Emerald Isle.
Seems that Notre Dame gets all the breaks.
Fuckers.
The race for Senate in Pennsylvania is hot, and getting hotter. Unfortunately for Libertarians, the race is a lose-lose.
he not-so-secret twist of Pennsylvania's Senate race is that both candidates are trying to reshape their parties' coalitions by tacking hard to the big-government, social conservative center. Casey, an old-school liberal on taxes, wages, trade, and union issues, is also an anti-abortion, anti-stem cell research, pro-Iraq war conservative. Santorum, who started his career in 1991 as a tax-cutting, small-government conservative congressman, has evolved into a visionary Republican leader in using government to fund religious charities and pay families to stick together.
It really sucks. I hate Santorum's statist views on moral issues. I despise Casey's liberal views on economics. I guess my decision comes down to deciding what I can live with more. A big spending social conservative who will tell me not to smoke weed, or place bets on the internet, or a big spending social liberal who will take more of my income. What is more important to me? Social issues or economic issues.
I am leaning toward Casey. Though his economic policies are frightening, they are reversable. Our economy is strong and resiliant. But if people like Santorum get their way, some of our liberties may be taken away. And those are more fragile than anything. When they are gone, they are never to return.
The race for Senate in Pennsylvania is hot, and getting hotter. Unfortunately for Libertarians, the race is a lose-lose.
he not-so-secret twist of Pennsylvania's Senate race is that both candidates are trying to reshape their parties' coalitions by tacking hard to the big-government, social conservative center. Casey, an old-school liberal on taxes, wages, trade, and union issues, is also an anti-abortion, anti-stem cell research, pro-Iraq war conservative. Santorum, who started his career in 1991 as a tax-cutting, small-government conservative congressman, has evolved into a visionary Republican leader in using government to fund religious charities and pay families to stick together.
It really sucks. I hate Santorum's statist views on moral issues. I despise Casey's liberal views on economics. I guess my decision comes down to deciding what I can live with more. A big spending social conservative who will tell me not to smoke weed, or place bets on the internet, or a big spending social liberal who will take more of my income. What is more important to me? Social issues or economic issues.
I am leaning toward Casey. Though his economic policies are frightening, they are reversable. Our economy is strong and resiliant. But if people like Santorum get their way, some of our liberties may be taken away. And those are more fragile than anything. When they are gone, they are never to return.
In Austin a Federal Judge has struck down part of a smoking ban, citing it as unconstitutional.
A federal judge on Wednesday struck down part of Austin's smoking ban and found that some of its enforcement provisions were "unconstitutionally vague."The decision by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks did not overturn the smoking ban, enacted by voters in May 2005. But Sparks did clarify what steps a business owner must take to be in compliance with the ordinance. Sparks was presiding over a lawsuit filed last year by a group of bar owners.
At Click's Billiards on East Oltorf Street, the bar cannot provide ashtrays and must still post no-smoking signs. But if Blake Tynes lights up anyway, a federal judge's new ruling says that it's Tynes – not the bar owner – who can be cited.
Sparks said the businesses must post "no smoking" signs and remove ashtrays and other smoking accoutrements. However, the owner can no longer be held liable for not taking additional steps if patrons continue to smoke, Sparks ruled.
"Thank goodness there was a judge that finally had some sense," said Rebecca Davis, a bartender at the Elephant Room, a Congress Avenue cellar-turned-jazz club, where a faint odor of smoke permeated the air and smokers were already celebrating Wednesday night. "This is going to help my happy hour business so much."
Several customers said they've smoked cautiously at the bar since the ban went into place, holding their cigarettes out of sight when somebody new walked in. But on Wednesday, Davis told everyone about the ruling as they approached the bar.
It's about time the judges got it right. Though a law passed by voters should be given some deference, but only if it is constitutional. It appears this one is not.
More and more I am agreeing with Radley. The Republicans deserve to lose the Senate
In a move that is un-democratic, Senate Majority leader Bill First tucked a measure that would ban internet gambling into a bill enhancing port security.
"Gambling can be highly addictive, especially when its done over an unregulated environment such as the Internet" he said this year."If Congress had not acted, gamblers would soon be able to place bets not just from home computers, but from their cell phones while they drive home from work or their Blackberries as they wait in line at the movies," Leach said.
The US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board will jointly develop implementing rules for the new law, while financial institutions have nine months to incorporate its provision.
Leach cited research which showed that young people who tend to spend hours of leisure time on the Internet, are particularly vulnerable.
A 2005 survey by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 26 percent of male college students gamble in online card games at least once a month, while nearly 10 percent of all college students gambled online at some point last year.
"Never has it been so easy to lose so much money so quickly at such a young age. The casino is in effect brought to the home, office and college dorm.
"Children may play without verification, and betting with a credit card can undercut a players perception of the value of cash, which too easily leads to bankruptcy and crime," Leach said.
Experts said the vast majority of bettors are placing wagers on poker.
"Everyone loses if this industry continues its remarkable growth trends," Leach said.
Republicans tucked the measure into a bill aimed at enhancing port security, which passed early Saturday.
I find it ironic that gambling is good in states like New Jersey and Nevada. Pennsylvania just passed a law allowing slot machines at race tracks and resorts. Pennsylvania also has this comercial where Gus the Groundhog tells everyone to keep scratching (PA lottery instant tickets that is).
With just a month to go before elections anyone up for reelection would not dare vote to squash the nanny law, because doing so would be voting against port security. Nice move Mr. Frist.
Of course the Republicans are salavating at a chance to further entrench their moralistic vision of America on us. The sad thing is the only alternative is the Democrats. Though they will let you live your life, they want to control the free market through taxation and regulation. Makes me not want to even vote anymore.