6 more years!

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:19:10 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 6 words, total size 1 kb.

Another reason government costs so much

Ever wonder why the Wisconsin Supreme Court needs its own "Human Resources Officer”?

Wisconsin Supreme Court Human Resources Officer Margaret Brady was interviewed...

And I’ll bet the pay for that position is north of $100K.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:36:51 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.

Why the hell not?

Wired:

In May, the federal government simulated an earthquake so massive, it killed 100,000 Midwesterners instantly, and forced more than 7 million people out of their homes. ... The results of May’s disaster exercise won’t be released to the public.

Why the hell not?  Because the drill revealed major inadequacies that our rulers don’t want the average citizen finding out about?

You know, if we had a real press (as opposed to a bunch of establishment press agents) in this country, somebody would be filing Freedom of Information demands for those results right now.

(Wired via Instapundit.)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:21:04 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 106 words, total size 2 kb.

Wrong hat

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor delivers more mush for the rubes:

...This fall the Republican Party will pursue a legislative agenda that boosts economic growth through reducing the regulatory and tax burden.

Gee Eric, too bad you didn’t start pushing that agenda last fall.  Why, we might even be out of the deprecession by now!

We will make sure...

("We will make sure...” Pretty confident, aren’t-cha?  Does that include the "we only control one-half of one-third of the government” gang?)

...that Washington policies are less restrictive to businesses small and large.

"Less restrictive,” the man says.  Well, I guess that being strangled with a noose beats being garotted with a wire, but personally I was hoping for more of a "dynamiting barriers” approach...

Our goals...

(That’s better. You don’t have to actually achieve "goals.”)

...include repealing the "3 percent withholding rule”...

The item that’s atop everyone’s list, I’m sure.
 
(Why, every morning, right after I pour my first coffee, I think: "If I were in charge, what one thing could I do that would get the economy off stall and allay everyone’s worries about the future?  I know:  I’d repeal the 3 percent withholding rule!  That’ll show ’em!  Just watch!  (Now, wotthehel is the ‘3 percent withholding rule’, anyway?)...”

(Pssst... Hey Eric.  Which of your campaign contributors asked for that one?   No, no... it’s O.K., man...)

...which serves as an effective tax increase on those who do business with the government...

Y’know, just a thought, but while you’re at it maybe you could try making it less expensive to do business- period.  Just a thought!

...and overturning the EPA’s proposed regulations that inhibit jobs in areas as varied as cement and farm dust.

The House has the power to bring those regulations to a halt instantly: Defund ’em.  But do you guys have the nerve?  Hah!

We plan...

And we know all about "the best-laid plans...”

...to prevent the NLRB from inhibiting where a business chooses to create jobs.

Answer:  Defund them, too.  (But what am I thinking!)

...We were elected to change the way Washington does business and spends money.

"...and so far, we haven’t delivered squat.  But hope (and promises) spring eternal:  ‘This Time For Sure!  Presto!’”

Via:  AOSHQ

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 22:39:41 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 355 words, total size 5 kb.

“Why is the GOP Not Demanding We Open Up ANWR and Repeal ObamaCare?”

Easy:  Because the Gentry GOP and their Beltway Buddies are just fine with things exactly the way they are.  All that repeal talk?  Just for rubes.

After all, we know how well they did on that lightbulb deal, don’t we?

UPDATE:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:30:44 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 109 words, total size 2 kb.

None dare call it...

Four quotes:

Karl Rove:

You don’t accuse the chairman of the Federal Reserve of being a traitor to his country, of being guilty of treason.  And, suggesting that we treat him pretty ugly in Texas.  You know, that is not, again, a presidential statement.

If Rick Perry were to be elected president, he’d be saddled with Ben Bernanke who has a term. ...The president couldn’t even ask him to resign.  So, this is, I hope this is not the first of sort of over- the-top statements.

Rob Blackwell, American Banker:

I’m not sure what’s worse—that Perry made the comment, or that the crowd around him actually applauded when he said it.  There should have been audible gasps, not clapping.  It speaks volumes of the popularity of the Fed, or lack thereof, that many do not realize the central bank is at least trying to help.

Glenn Reynolds:

None of this is going to hurt Perry. In fact — do I really have to spell this out to our lame punditry?  I guess so — they’ve played right into Perry’s hands.  First, he’s building a narrative that consumer inflation, currently accelerating, is the fault of reckless Obama spending and the Bernanke money-printing that supported it...  Second, when former Bush people attack him for dissing Wall Street and the Fed, it’s helping him put distance between himself and Bush...  And watch him attack Obama for being too close to Wall Street and the Fed before this is all over.

The New York Post:

Perry’s words fall heavily upon the ears.

On substance, however, Gov. Perry was quite right.  For whatever purpose -- policy or politics -- simply printing money in large amounts is a recipe for catastrophe...

Indeed, the substance of Perry’s message was so unremarkable as to go largely uncriticized.

As to the efficacy of his words -- well, he’s been in public life for some time now, and the governor of the nation’s second-most-populous state for over a decade.

So he’s entitled to his views, and to the rhetoric of his choice.

We suspect ordinary Americans -- worried sick about inflation and the economy -- will be far more forgiving of Perry than the pundits.

Elsewhere:
Related:
Credits:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:49:51 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 450 words, total size 6 kb.

Remember: Come 2012 we can vote out *Republicans*, too...

And I can think of a few who’d be better in retirement...

Chris Hodapp:

In July, 10-year-old Lydia Coenen and her 9-year-old sister Vivian set up a lemonade stand near their Appleton, Wisconsin home, to sell lemonade to people heading to a car show.  A police officer informed them their stand was prohibited by a new Appleton city ordinance that bars unlicensed vendors from selling food and drinks within a two-block radius of a special event.

It sounds so crazy that it could only happen in a Monty Python routine, yet at least four other similar episodes happened across the U.S. in July alone, in Georgia, Maryland, Texas and Iowa.  In Maryland, the children’s parents were threatened with a $500 fine.  Is that what we want here in Indianapolis?  It’s clearly what City County Councilman Angel Rivera [R-at large] wants with his Proposal 188...

The proposal prohibits private ticket sales within a one mile radius of any event involving 500 or more people at Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse, Victory Field, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Murat Theatre, the Indianapolis Convention Center, the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and White River State Park, unless one of the parties involved in the sale has a license. So if you are stuck with an extra ticket to a game or show, now you will need a license to sell it outside the venue.

But the biggest wave of draconian new regulations involve "special events.” Events as innocuous as a neighborhood block party now will fall under the scrutiny of the city requiring new permits and fees. More troubling are the establishment of so-called "clean zones” that require new licenses to sell merchandise, food, souvenirs, et cetera, whether you are on city property or your own private property, during certain events.

Revenue grab, or some "protection” for Rivera’s campaign contributors?  Doesn’t matter.  Out!

Indianapolis Star:

The state is letting the NFL use the government center's two parking garages and one surface lot when Indianapolis hosts the Super Bowl on Feb. 5.  Fans who park in them will be paying an undetermined fee, with the money going to the NFL.

Connie Smith, spokeswoman for the state Department of Administration, said it's the first time the state has not kept the fees collected when the public uses the state garages for special events...

...because the National Football League needs the money SO much more than our cash-strapped state.  Right.

And then there’s always Mitch Daniels’ appointee Supreme Court Justice Steven David.  You remember him, the guy who repealed the Fourth Amendment in Indiana?

Three reasons that remind me why I call myself a conservative, not a Republican.  One scratched ballot, coming up.


Previously:

Credits:  Hodapp via Nathan, Star via Advance Indiana.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 20:58:39 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 462 words, total size 5 kb.

The Department *LEAPS* into action!

Advance Indiana:

A separate story by WRTV indicates that the Department of Labor will investigate why the employer of stagehand Nathan Byrd, who was one of the five victims of Saturday's night's tragedy, failed to report his occupation-related death within 8 hours as required by state law.

Somebody dies, and we get bureaucrats bitching about paperwork. I see another agency ripe for defunding.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:01:34 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 66 words, total size 1 kb.

Ill Wind

Don’t have a lot to say coverage-wise about Saturday night’s wind-induced stage rigging collapse at the Indiana State Fair.  I was home watching the radar as the storm moved through, and wound up following the coverage (of which more anon) until the 1:30am press conference.  Gary Welsh has three videos up (and a follow up post), and Roberta has some thoughts here.  Would note (as Roberta does) that the collapse involved only the stage’s roof and rigging (the stage itself is a concrete podium), not that it makes any difference to those killed and injured.  Would also note with gratitude (and a bit of amazement) the hundreds of audience members who rushed forward to help rescue those trapped beneath the wreckage.

Meanwhile, brace yourselves for endless post-mortems (and litigation), along with the usual number of uninformed comments.  The classic so far: "Structures don't come crashing down in storms, absent negligence.” O RLY?  I wonder what folks in Joplin, Missouri (or, more relevantly, Ottawa) would say about that.

Since there’s no chance that I’ll be asked to do an engineering evaluation of what happened, I’m free to engage in my own uninformed speculation:  From my viewing of the videos, I would say the 60-mph wind gust was trapped under the stage’s roof, which lifted the entire structure.  The lifting appears to have caused the vertical trusses on the audience-left side to separate, and once that happened, the whole thing could only go over.

Elsewhere:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 00:02:18 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 260 words, total size 4 kb.

Send some good kitty thoughts, please...

(Thanks, Tam)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 02:45:26 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.