Plausibly Undeniable
Have doubts the Tea Party protesters are for real, and protesting both the Democrats and Republicans? Have look here as they boo those two posers — Sen John Cornyn and Gov. Rick Perry. They call Cornyn “Traitor!” shout “You’re the problem!” (3:30ish) and “Sell out!”
Sweet.
When can we start voting from the rooftops?
(h/t Wick)
This is less than two minutes and explains more in that time than you’ve learned in years, I’d reckon.
Sorry for the absence. Shockingly, this blog doesn’t quite generate the revenue yet that would allow me to make it my sole daily endeavor. Blog FAIL.
Saw this on Hit & Run:
Why Governments Are Lousy at Running Business, But Excellent at Scaring You About “Annihilating” Budget Cuts
Good piece in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal from John Steele Gordon (hat tip: Veronique de Rugy), reminding a forgetful nation why it is that state-run enterprises almost always end in tears. Here’s one point that has resonance for those of us interested in California’s tribulations:
“Cost cutting is alien to the culture of all bureaucracies. Indeed, when cost cutting is inescapable, bureaucracies often make cuts that will produce maximum public inconvenience, generating political pressure to reverse the cuts.”
What’s that you say about “generating political pressure to reverse the cuts”? Here’s the headline on an L.A. Times news piece today: “California braces for brutal budget cuts.” The lede:“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers scrambled Wednesday to avert a financial meltdown, and public officials across California braced for annihilating cuts on the day after voters trounced their leaders’ rescue plan for the state.”
Italics mine, to emphasize the objectivity.
Then I remembered I saw this in today’s Dallas Morning News:
While acknowledging the gravity of Dallas’ financial woes, many City Council members balked Wednesday at specific budget cuts that City Manager Mary Suhm says are necessary to close a massive deficit.
From senior services to swimming pools, council members defended the importance of pricey programs that Suhm has targeted to balance the city’s books for the upcoming fiscal year.
Rudy and Dave didn’t fall into the sand trap the LA Times did, but I see similarities from council folk.
I’m sure this $100 million deficit has nothing to do with the city’s powerful leadership or well-considered priorities.
This guy needs to talk to these guys.
I find it surprising that no one wanted his byline on this story. And Miss Congeniality 2? Not quite as awesome as I expected.
Bethany continues the fight with TXU.
Click it or ticket — they can stick it, Robert Guest says.
Love the Kunkle. So what I’m about to say is with all due respect to the points he articulated for Unfair Park.
Dallas doesn’t need a daytime curfew for juveniles. And there are five reasons.
1) It. Is. Not. Necessary. Police already have the power to stop, detain, and deliver truants back to schools. We don’t need to criminalize truancy, and we don’t need to stack $500 fines that will fall disproportionately on the people who can’t afford them, just adding to their cycle of poverty and being in dutch with the law. (Yeah, I know, I’m not supposed to care much about the poor — smell like old milk and they don’t buy ads — but I certainly do care when it’s government piling on them.)
2) We are given a list of “defenses” to the fine — With permission of the student’s school subject to confirmation, medical excuse subject to confirmation, etc. Key words there are “subject to confirmation.” Meaning the police will be able to detain the kid (or an adult who looks young), issue the citation, and put people through the headache of the legal process even when they shouldn’t be. As a negative bonus, this sends a great message to kids — you are not a citizen, but a subject. Which brings me to…
3) Children are not the property of the city of Dallas, the school district, Texas, or the United States. The first two full sentences I taught my daughter were “I am not the property of the state. My life is my own.” (Ask my wife; I ain’t kidding you.) Kids are wards of their parents, in whose trust their rights are placed until they are of legal age.
4) This is a feel-good, do-nothing-but-harass-people initiative backed by clueless elected officials who want to look like they’re doing something.
5) Show of hands — who thinks this $500 fine part has nothing to do with the city’s $100 million budget deficit? Anyone? Anyone?