Where not to learn Logic

Loyala University of Chicago.  Why?

They rejected a speech by Karl Rove on the grounds that it would jeopardize their tax exempt status, replacing him with an Obama appointee--demonstrating that they not only did not understand laws regarding tax exempt status (Presidents and their appointees have been making commencement speeches for generations), but also demonstrated a strong political bias.

Ironically, they may be setting up the stage for someone to challenge their tax exempt status.  Oops.  They used to have a good basketball team, though.

Here's the Obama version of "transparency" in a nutshell

In the new financial services deform bill, it appears that regulatory bodies like the SEC may be exempted from Freedom of Information Act requests, according to an article from Fox News.

Since a major part of the financial meltdown of the past few years has to do with the SEC being asleep at the switch (or watching internet porn) instead of watching for the signs of toxic and fraudulent investments, it would seem that more, not less, transparency is needed there.  Evidently, however, Democrats in Congress, not to mention Mr. Obama, are having a little trouble figuring out that blocking access to information is anything but the "transparency" they promised back in 2008.

Hope and Change--congratulate our new Politburo, and let's celebrate Mr. Obama's birthday with a nice contribution to GOP candidates.

Want government in your healthcare?

Before you say "yes," take a look at this article about how the British are rejoining the ranks of civilized nations which do not have nationally run health care, as well as this article about how the centralized system in the U.K. is increasingly leading to denial of medical care.

If there were justice in this world, Congress and the President--at least those who voted for health insurance deform legislation--would be required to get their care via England's NHS.  H/T Muckraker.  The economic lesson here, of course, is that when people don't see the costs of their actions, they do not take action to avoid those costs.  Hopefully we learn this lesson here before it's too late.

14 good years today.....

....and marriage just keeps getting better and better.

Quick dinner thought....

Way back in 1989, I sampled a dutch style pancake in Arnhem (site of the events of "A Bridge Too Far", and also home of a wonderful historical village of old Dutch buildings) that differed quite a bit from ordinary pancakes.  Instead of sweet and fruity toppings, it had savory things like bacon, onions, and such in it.  Last night, I finally worked to duplicate it--simply pan-fry the desired fillings, remove from the pan, pour a bit of batter in, then add the desired amount of fillings.

Yum.  Burp.  Bacon and pancakes in the same bite!

An interesting thought.....

Visiting the homes where my great aunt and mother lived last weekend, the thought occurred to me that I'd give just about anything to have them back.  And then the thought occurred to me that, given that they're now safely in the arms of their Savior, they would have been really ticked if He'd granted my request.

Update: I wonder what the thoughts were of those who were brought back to life by Elijah, Elisha, and Christ.  Did an angel give the soon to be undeceased a briefing letting them know they'd have to deal with the difficulties of this world to bring honor to their Lord, or.....?

Populism, or a great point?

White collar pencil pusher (hee hee) Tom Purcell takes his class to task for glorifying desk jobs at the expense of blue collar trades.  At one level, we could see this as simply a populist rant of "darn all those rich lawyers!", but at another level, it makes a lot of sense.    How much more prosperous wouldour country be if we did less paperwork and more real work?  To borrow a phrase from my line of work, entering data into Oracle is not a value added operation.

We could start to implement Purcell's idea by ending federal funding for student loans altogether.

Another flaw in the health insurance deform law

Apparently, the building of doctor-owned hospitals is banned, and the expansion of them is heavily regulated.  So in the name of reducing overhead and reducing healthcare costs, the government has decided to require increased overhead and to create yet another barrier to entry.  Government also prohibits them from receiving Medicare and Medicaid patients--how nice if you're on that program, and a doctor owned facility is the only one within an hour of your home that does what you need done.

The article is a fascinating illustration of the theory of rent-seeking, and unfortunately, it appears that the American Hospital Association has been successful in getting their rent.

Thought on the NAACP/ Tea Party brouhaha

I'll take the NAACP seriously when it alleges racism if and when they politely but firmly tell Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the New Black Panthers that they are no longer welcome there.  I'm not holding my breath, of course, as sad to say, it seems that some of the most bigoted people around call themselves "civil rights activists."  Go figure.

Major defects with the financial services deform bill

1.  Most of the regulations are "to be determined" by regulators.  On the bright side, this may set up a way to repeal most of it through the courts, which have previously voided laws according to Article 1 of the Constitution.  Regulatory uncertainty is an economic killer.

2.  Massive set-asides for unions and other groups in a modification of proxy voting rules. 

3.  Massive paperwork requirements for ordinary transactions--it will be a killer for small business.

4.  No modification of rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose demand for mortgage securities was a large part of the real estate cataclysm.

5.  No examination of the CRA--in fact, set asides act as an expansion of the CRA.

In short, when given a choice between ways of improving and worsening the situation, Frank and Dodd chose making the situation worse with laserlike precision.

All you need to know about the financial services deform bill

It is written (ghostwritten for) by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.  Why is this significant?

Barney Frank is the financial wizard who proudly proclaimed that there were no problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they accumulated hundreds of billions of dollars worth of worthless mortgage securities.  Not coincidentally, he was sleeping with a Fannie Mae executive at the time, but somehow chose not to recuse himself from discussions for that reason.

Chris Dodd is one of the foremost recipients of Countrywide Mortgage's "Quid Pro Quo" club, where Countrywide inexplicably gave sweetheart loans to Senators who voted their way in Congress--while of course all those subprime loans Dodd was encouraging (and taking) were setting the stage for the real estate bubble to pop.

With financial acumen like this leading the way, watch out.

Another triumph of socialized medicine!

Reports are out that in North Korea, amputations are being performed without anesthesia, sometimes by candlelight.  More or less, due to the great success of centralized control of the economy, doctors cannot even offer the suffering a few shots of whiskey before sawing away.  In other words, North Korean medicine has become in some ways more primitive than a Revolutionary War field hospital.

It's a lot like Cuba, where in the tropics, patients at mental hospitals froze to death this winter.

More reasons why the government schools don't teach logic....

If they taught logic in the government schools, people would immediately figure out that the Fisheries and Wildlife Service's contention--that a few dozen ICE agents running surveillance towers will be too many people for the Sonoran Pronghorn, but tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are not--is absurd.

Never mind the reality that simply putting vehicle barriers out there--an option requiring no people at all after it is installed--would be a great way of reducing (not eliminating) the flow of illegals by making it far more difficult to cross that desert.

The importance of historical memory....

....is shown dramatically by Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion in McDonald vs. Chicago, where he argues not a due process interpretation of the 14th Amendment, but rather a privileges and immunities clause--and makes the case that an 1873 case which (to many legal scholars) had rendered that clause "a nullity" was itself incorrectly decided.

It is refreshing to see a Justice understanding the limits of stare decisis--which is a necessity of legal abominations like Roe v. Wade are ever to be overturned.  It is even more refreshing to see a Justice point to the suffering of his own people occasioned by the 1873 case as a major reason for returning to the Constitution instead of abiding by a shamefully wrong decision.

Life Lessons from the neighbors

My dear wife yesterday was made aware of a certain situation among our neighbors--suffice it to say it is one involving an ugly divorce--where she was told, most likely, a little more than we may have really needed to know.  What should our response be?

I would suggest that, in a case where gross sin is alleged, we might do well to simply note to the speaker "I don't know how much of this I need to know, but if indeed you can demonstrate what you're saying, I'd suggest that the police ought to know about some of this."  In doing this, we ensure that gossips are warned about the evil of gossip, and those who would commit grosser sins are warned about their error by an appropriate authority--giving both a chance to repent before it is too late.

And yes, pray for this situation, if you would.  I'm guessing that this is just the tip of the iceberg in my community, but pray, anonymously, for this.