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Archive for April, 2010

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The Cartel premiering in multiple cities

Posted by Richard on April 28, 2010

The Cartel, a feature-length documentary about the failures of the public school system and attempts to reform it, is premiering in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and St. Louis on Friday, April 30, and in Denver on Tuesday, May 4. Special events and speakers are planned in many locations on opening night; go here for city-by-city information.

In Denver, the film will play at the Chez Artiste, 2800 S. Colorado Blvd. The 7 PM May 4 showing will be co-hosted by the Independence Institute and Liberty on the Rocks. Institute President John Caldera will speak briefly before the film, so arrive early. Afterward, Pam Benigno and Ben DeGrow of the Institute's Education Policy Center will take questions and lead discussion. 

The film, which focuses on New Jersey schools, has won numerous awards and lots of critical praise. It sold out its New York premier and screenings across New Jersey. Watch the trailer below, and some clips from the film here. 


[YouTube link]

The Cartel was made possible by the support of the Moving Picture Institute, which also brought us 2081, among others. Their motto is "Promoting Freedom Through Film." Please join me in supporting their efforts.

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It’s not too late to build Twin Towers II

Posted by Richard on April 28, 2010

On this day in 2006, they broke ground for the "Freedom Tower" that's supposed to be built on the World Trade Center site, replacing the Twin Towers. Four years later, nothing has arisen from the hole in the ground. It's not too late to discard that unfortunate plan and do what the vast majority of New Yorkers and Americans everywhere want: rebuild new and better Twin Towers. The design exists. The money already allocated for the current going-nowhere project is sufficient to pay for it. As the Twin Towers Alliance noted, much of the work already done had to be done anyway and wouldn't be wasted.

Check out the 67-page booklet It's Not Too Late (PDF) for detailed information about the current plan, its inferiority to Twin Towers II, and the political mess that led to the current state of affairs.

Compare the current LMDC plan to the Twin Towers II plan. If, like most people, you strongly prefer updated, even grander twin towers and free, meaningful, above-ground memorials to Liebeskind's uninspiring obelisk and absurdly expensive (the price of one tower), mediocre underground memorials, please join me in supporting the continuing efforts of the Twin Towers Alliance.

It's not too late to do the right thing.

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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Posted by Richard on April 24, 2010

"Who shall watch the watchmen?"

On Wednesday, I posted about Gerald P. O'Driscoll's Wall Street Journal column arguing that regulations and bureaucrats can't protect consumers and investors. O'Driscoll based his argument on public choice theory. Now there's yet another explanation for regulatory failure: the regulators, confident that they're virtually immune from any consequences for failing to do their jobs, may just decide to spend their days watching porn instead of doing all that tedious number crunching.

So, in the face of all the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence that armies of bureaucrats and mountains of regulations have utterly failed to protect us from fraud, does the Obama administration say, "Maybe we ought to rethink this; let's talk to this O'Driscoll fellow and explore some fresh ideas"? 

Of course not! Instead, they're going to create new regulatory agencies to watch over the existing regulatory agencies and provide us with the "protection" that those regulatory agencies have failed to provide. They're going to address the problem of unmotivated, unaccountable, almost-impossible-to-fire bureaucrats by hiring a new army of unmotivated, unaccountable, almost-impossible-to-fire bureaucrats.

What could possibly go wrong?

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City of New Orleans

Posted by Richard on April 23, 2010

A friend called me last night from New Orleans. She and her niece took the train down there from Memphis for the jazz festival. It sounded like a great time and a great trip — something I'd like to do one of these days.

During the phone conversation, Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans" began running through my head, and it's been running through my head ever since. Kris Kristofferson called it "the best damn railroad song ever written," and I won't dispute that. Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" ranks right up there, IMHO, but it's about the building of a railroad, not about a train. So I guess I'd say "City of New Orleans" is the best damn train song ever written.

In the course of consuming a few adult beverages last night, I checked out several YouTube postings of both songs. Sang along with them, too. Several times. My favorite "City of New Orleans" renditions are two by Steve Goodman himself. 

The best, IMHO, is this version from Goodman's Easter Tapes album:

A couple of the comments say it all: 

  • pablocruiser songs like this seem like they fall out of the sky, written by gods. almost too good to be human. and what sweet guitar picking. this guy was one of a kind.
  • AZHappy This song is so lovely it makes me weep. This is such a unique country. It's defined by the landscape and by it's people. Get out of your houses and go see it! Take the train. Drive your car. Ride your bike. Breathe it. Smell it. Just get out there and find out what Steve Goodman wrote about.
    Lord, I hope somebody, right now, is writing a song this sweet. 

This live performance with the legendary Jethro Burns is pretty awesome, too:


[YouTube link]

It just wouldn't be right not to include a version by Arlo Guthrie, who made it a hit record. Here's a pretty good one from 1978:


[YouTube link]

What a great song! What a shame that leukemia claimed Steve Goodman at such a young age. He was a national treasure, and it saddens me immensely to think of all the songs he never had a chance to write and sing. If you're not familiar with Steve Goodman, I strongly encourage you to learn about and listen to more of him. Check him out at YouTube for starters. "You've Never Even Called Me by My Name," "The Dutchman," "Penny Evans," and "Chicken Cordon Blues" will give you a sense of what a terrific talent he was.

And then there's "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request" — which could serve as his epitaph.

If you're wondering about "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," I recommend the original 1967 recording, available on this album. But here's Gordon Lightfoot performing it live just a couple of years ago:


[YouTube link]

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It’s not personal this time

Posted by Richard on April 22, 2010

On the way home this evening, I heard Hugh Hewitt talking with National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru. Ponnuru made an interesting point that I hadn't thought about, but which strikes me as quite valid: the opposition to the Obama administration is much more programmatic and policy-driven, and much less personal, than the opposition to the Clinton administration was.

Think back — the right's dislike of both Bill and Hillary was quite intense, personal, and visceral. Yes, there are a few whose reaction to Obama is similar — but they're mostly marginalized fringe people like the birthers. The Tea Party people, who are the opposition mainstream, are thoroughly focused on issues: out-of-control spending, out-of-control growth of government, out-of-control deficits, "stimulus" pork, cap-and-tax, health care takeover, etc.

When Clinton was called names, they tended to focus on his character and were quite personal. When Obama is called names, they tend to focus on his agenda — ends and means — and are quite ideological: socialist, radical, Alinskyite, etc. 

To the extent that this comparison is valid, it seems to further discredit the spurious claim that opposition to Obama is racially motivated.

Although I'm sure someone will point out that Bill Clinton was proclaimed our nation's first black president, so the opposition to him must have been racist, too.

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Crony capitalism

Posted by Richard on April 21, 2010

This week, the Senate is considering the 1300-page Dodd financial services "reform" bill, another bloated piece of legislation that purports to fix an industry by smothering it with an army of new bureaucrats, a sea of new regulations, and a bewildering and foul-smelling stew of taxes and subsidies.

Gerald P. O'Driscoll contends that regulations and bureaucrats don't protect us from frauds and liars — quite the contrary:

The idea that multiplying rules and statutes can protect consumers and investors is surely one of the great intellectual failures of the 20th century. Any static rule will be circumvented or manipulated to evade its application. Better than multiplying rules, financial accounting should be governed by the traditional principle that one has an affirmative duty to present the true condition fairly and accurately—not withstanding what any rule might otherwise allow. And financial institutions should have a duty of care to their customers. Lawyers tell me that would get us closer to the common law approach to fraud and bad dealing.

Public choice theory has identified the root causes of regulatory failure as the capture of regulators by the industry being regulated. Regulatory agencies begin to identify with the interests of the regulated rather than the public they are charged to protect. In a paper for the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Conference in 2008, economist Willem Buiter described "cognitive capture," by which regulators become incapable of thinking in terms other than that of the industry. On April 5 of this year, The Wall Street Journal chronicled the revolving door between industry and regulator in "Staffer One Day, Opponent the Next."

Congressional committees overseeing industries succumb to the allure of campaign contributions, the solicitations of industry lobbyists, and the siren song of experts whose livelihood is beholden to the industry. The interests of industry and government become intertwined and it is regulation that binds those interests together. Business succeeds by getting along with politicians and regulators. And vice-versa through the revolving door.

We call that system not the free-market, but crony capitalism. It owes more to Benito Mussolini than to Adam Smith.

Read the whole thing.

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Harmful regulation video contest

Posted by Richard on April 20, 2010

Make a video showing how government regulations are causing harm, and you could win a prize. From Adam Bitely:

The EPA has decided to start a video contest, seeking to gather films promoting government regulations. The prize is $2,500 of stolen cash from the taxpayer.

Screw that.

Americans for Limited Government/NetRight Nation and the Fr33 Agents Network have announced that we will host our own contest. The reward is $2,500 not stolen from the tax payers. …

Check out the rules and additional information, and then start making a video.

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Regulation Reality Tour hits Colorado

Posted by Richard on April 19, 2010

Americans for Prosperity is bringing its Regulation Reality Tour to Colorado April 19-21. It sounds like a fun event with a serious message. "Carbon Cops" in SMART cars will drive home the message that the EPA's efforts to regulate carbon emissions (without congressional action) threaten to burden us with onerous regulations, taxes, and fines for activities that harm no one, further harming our economy.

I plan to drop by the Denver event at the State Capitol Monday evening (5-6 PM) after work. There'll be free hot dogs and something called "moon bounce." I don't know about the latter, but I'll definitely grab a free hot dog. If you're in the neighborhood, please join me.

Other Colorado events are scheduled in Ft. Collins and Aurora on Monday, Highlands Ranch and Colorado Springs on Tuesday, and Montrose, Grand Junction, and Wheat Ridge on Wednesday. All offer free food and most offer the mysterious "moon bounce." Get more info and sign up to attend here (you don't have to sign up to attend, but the free food supply is more likely to be adequate if you do). Bring the family — I'm guessing "moon bounce" is something the kids will like. 

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Great day, great Tea Party in Denver

Posted by Richard on April 16, 2010

It was a beautiful spring day in Denver, sunny and mild — a perfect day to spend 3 hours amidst thousands of small-government, pro-liberty people having a great time at the State Capitol. Best use of a vacation day I've made in some time.

I only caught bits and pieces of most of the speakers because I did a lot of wandering around, looking at the crowd, the signs, and the handful of counter-demonstrators across the street. Bumped into several old friends. I did listen to Jimmy Lakey's speech, and wow, he is as his website bio says, "a gifted communicator."

I didn't see any outrageous signs or other indications that there were "Crash the Tea Party" infiltrators in the crowd. Didn't even see the dead fetus signs that the anti-abortion folks usually bring to every rally, no matter what the cause or sponsor.

One of the counter-demonstrators had a sign that read "Lynch Palin" — thus proving that Tea Parties do attract misogynists who advocate violence against women.

Most of the local media are citing a crowd estimate of 2,000. Last year's event was estimated at 3,000, and I'd say this crowd was comparable, if not larger. But at least no one I'm aware of is calling it "dozens."

One TV station followed the "downplay the Tea Party" script. 9News has a video on their website from their noon newscast in which the reporter on the scene, Brooke Thacker, was asked for an estimate. She said hundreds, even while the brief crowd shots in the accompanying video made a liar out of her. The AP story posted adjacent to the video says 2,000.

It got worse. 9News didn't air any of the speakers or interview any of the organizers — just a clip of some realtor saying that the housing market was really bad. Thacker gave a cursory, shallow description of why people were there. But after the remote from the rally, anchor Kyle Dyer explained that they wanted to present "the other side," so she did a phone interview with the Democratic Party chair, who was allowed to rattle off all the Democratic talking points at some length. Epic journalistic fail, 9News.

The People's Press Collective streamed the whole thing live, and at one point they announced that over 6,000 people were receiving the stream — I think they should all count as virtual attendees. 🙂 PPC has some video and pictures posted already, and I understand video of all the speakers will be available this evening. Check out that Jimmy Lakey speech.

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Attend your local Tax Day Tea Party

Posted by Richard on April 14, 2010

I hope you'll take some time away from work and/or last-minute number crunching tomorrow to attend a Tax Day Tea Party in your area. Tea Party Patriots lists over 750 such scheduled events, and you can find one near you by city, state, or ZIP code.

I'm taking the day off to attend the Denver Tea Party. Like all good Denver rallies, it's at the State Capitol, and it's scheduled for 10 AM to 1 PM. If you're going, too, look for me and say hi — I'll be the, um, "mature" fellow with a beard wearing an "Infidel" t-shirt.

If you've never been to a Tea Party rally, you'll be amazed at how friendly, good-natured, and diverse the crowd is. But keep your eye out for leftist "Crash the Tea Party" infiltrators pretending to be Nazis, bigots, and yahoos in an effort to discredit the movement. You might want to bring a pocket videocam to capture the fun — and the truth.

Remember what the left taught us: "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." So get out there and be patriotic! 🙂

UPDATE: Ann Althouse has some good advice on dealing with leftist tea-party crashers. Some good comments, too, like this by Fred4Pres: 

I have been to a few tea party events and they are about as edgy as a Rotary or Lions Club meeting. If someone is making a complete jackass of themselves, I am going to conclude that person is a Kos Kid.

(HT: Instapundit)

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10,000 goes from “dozens” to “hundreds”

Posted by Richard on April 14, 2010

When Tea Party Express III kicked off in Searchlight, Nevada, a couple of weeks ago, CNN described the crowd of 10-20,000 as "at least dozens of people." Earlier today, the "Top Stories" widget on my iGoogle page included a Boston Globe report that "hundreds" were at the Tea Party Express rally at Boston Common.

The Tea Party Express people say it was "Well over 10,000," and they have pictures and aerial footage to back it up. 

The Boston Globe has now acknowledged in its photo gallery of the event that there were "thousands." But it wasn't until picture 23 (of 71) that I found a half-way decent crowd shot, and that's at a low enough angle that it's hard to judge the size. Most of the images are tight shots of Palin or of fewer than half a dozen attendees (I quit after looking at the first 36; maybe all the crowd shots are toward the end). 

Well, we've gone from an absurd claim of dozens, to a laughable claim of hundreds, to a grudging acknowledgment of thousands. It's progress, I suppose. 

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Remembering Jefferson

Posted by Richard on April 13, 2010

Today is Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, and according to Marsha Enright and Gen LaGreca, it’s a rather sad one:

On a spring day in 1743, a towering figure in our country’s founding was born: Thomas Jefferson. His skillful hand carved much of the character of America.

Today, however, what Jefferson so painstakingly crafted lies pulverized almost to stone dust. Were he alive to celebrate his birthday this April 13, instead of sipping champagne, he might want to drown his sorrow in whiskey.

What has happened to the revolutionary ideas he penned on the parchment that is the soul of America, the Declaration of Independence? How many of today’s citizens—and elected officials—understand the stirring proclamation that every person possesses certain “unalienable rights,” among which are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”?

Today, most Americans don’t understand their rights; the entire concept has been hopelessly muddied. Many now believe that if they want or need anything—from health care, to a “decent” salary, to help paying their mortgage—that they have a “right,” through government taxation and regulation, to compel others to provide it for them. As a result, our actual rights have been eroded at an ever-increasing pace.

So, in homage to Thomas Jefferson, and with his guidance, let’s examine some features of our real rights, to set the record straight.

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Help the rich pay more taxes

Posted by Richard on April 10, 2010

This weekend, I'm finally working on my taxes. But after several hours of getting paperwork together and entering data into H & R Block At Home (the new name for TaxCut), I had to take a break. So I've been catching up on neglected reading, like the past week's posts at Mark Perry's excellent Carpe Diem.

There, I learned that a group of millionaire leftists (it's a much underappreciated fact that most of the very wealthy are also very liberal) has been loudly complaining about being undertaxed. Mark Perry suggested that they don't have to wait for their tax rates to be raised to pay more. They can, for instance, make a gift to the U.S. Treasury or simply not itemize deductions, which would likely increase their tax liability significantly. 

Of course, they're not interested in doing such things — they're posturing for ideological reasons. And their goal isn't just to increase their own taxes, which they could do easily (and privately), but to increase other people's taxes, too. 

But in case there's a millionaire out there who sincerely is looking for ways to pay more taxes (and happens to be reading this blog), I've got another suggestion: you can pay other people's taxes. It would be a double whammy of altruism — you'd be not only doing more to support the commonweal, you'd also be performing acts of charity for those less fortunate than you. 

Of course, your charity would have to go to those who actually pay taxes. And according to this other Carpe Diem post, that eliminates almost 50% of households. So these charitable gestures would largely have to be directed toward middle-class taxpayers. Of which there are many.

Since I came up with the idea, I think it's only appropriate that I volunteer to be the first recipient. 

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Mohammed Al-Madadi: incredibly stupid or gathering intelligence

Posted by Richard on April 9, 2010

Qatari diplomat Mohammed Al-Madadi caused a bomb scare on a flight from Washington, D.C., to Denver Wednesday night. Reportedly, Al-Madadi sneaked a smoke in the john. When confronted, he joked (supposedly) that he'd been trying to light his shoe. 

Ha, ha. 

The flight ended up being accompanied to DIA by F-16s, and the passengers spent many hours being debriefed at a location quite distant from the terminal. 

Now, it turns out that Al-Madadi was on his way to see an imprisoned al Qaeda agent, Ali Al-Marri.

So here's the obvious question: was Al-Madadi simply behaving stupidly or was he obtaining intelligence about U.S. air security measures? 

I'm inclined to invoke Hanlon's Law (which may actually owe its genesis to Heinlein): Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

More than likely, Al-Madadi is just the typical arrogant Arab male, for whom saving face is paramount and who has no conception of how much concern and fear he's caused. 

But, but … it could be a scouting mission. Another probing of our defenses. There have been a number of incidents, harking back at least to the Minneapolis "flying imams" incident, that could be interpreted as attempts to test our air defenses and gather intelligence about our reactions to various potential threats. 

Who knows? That's one of the terrible problems with this new form of war in which we're involved (and please remember that it's a war that was declared by our enemies, so we have no choice in the matter). The enemy is waging that war in the most unconventional ways of which it can conceive. It's hard to determine who the enemy is, where the theater of war is, and what exactly is an act of war. And they like it that way.

Is Mohammed Al-Madadi an undercover enemy combatant, a secret al Qaeda agent, or just an obtuse, clueless, arrogant, privileged-class Arab? I don't know. I'm not sure anyone does.

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Fox on roof redux

Posted by Richard on April 9, 2010

What is it about Denver-area foxes? One thing's for sure — they're not afraid of heights! Regular readers may recall that last August I posted a picture of a fox on the roof of my house. And commenter Stacy reported a fox on the roof in Northglenn (a Denver suburb) in October.

Well, tonight Denver's ABC affiliate, 7News (KMGH) showed viewer video of a fox on the roof of someone's two-story house. It looked a lot like my fox. But I suppose, to non-foxes, all foxes look pretty much alike. 

It's only a few minutes after the story aired, and it doesn't seem to be on their website yet. A search of their site for "fox" turned up some Fox Network/News stories and one about Megan Fox. She's probably not much brighter than the fox on the roof, but way more photogenic.

The fox on roof video may get posted when they get around to updating their site. These legacy media people still see the internet as an afterthought. If I don't forget, I'll check for it in the morning and update with a link if it's available. 

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