Very Important Article About Corporate Rights

From Reason: The Citizens United Backlash Threatens Basic Rights

Susan Rice As NSA: Spinning Human Tragedy For Partisan Political Purposes For Nearly Twenty Years!

Susan Rice is Obama's new pick for National Security Adviser, fresh off her stellar job obscuring the truth in the Benghazi attack and murders. That's her normal MO.

From her Wikipedia entry:

At the time of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Rice reportedly said, "If we use the word 'genocide' and are seen as doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November [congressional] election?"

Depends On What Your Definition Of "Secret" Is

Obama officials deny using 'secret' email accounts, though some agencies won't disclose details

No, they're not secret, they're just unpublished email addresses under pseudonyms, unknown to the public, that leave the public no obvious way to associate them with the official.

Absolutely nothing secret about that at all.

I immediately knew that "Richard Windsor" referred to former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. Sure.

At least we can be assured that Richard Windsor -- I mean Lisa Jackson is a "scholar of ethical behavior!" So, obviously, nothing unethical going on here!

Why Europe Has Nothing To Teach Us: Exhibit A

Marine Le Pen To Be Prosecuted In France For Crimethink

The continent that birthed fascism has learned nothing from history, nothing from Orwell.

In a secret vote, they have retroactively removed her immunity for statements she made as a member of the European Parliament and are going to prosecute her for statements that were legal when she made them -- statements that would be legal today in the U.S.

The Magical Power of Food Stamps

Paul Krugman is complaining about the "war on food stamps."

Given that food stamp usage is at record highs, if such a war exists, it's the losingest war since Argentina realized that Margaret Thatcher wasn't just going to sit back and hand over the Falkland Islands.

Krugman (and other foodstamp advocates) like to extol a number from Moody Analytics, but when I searched Moody's site, I came up with just two articles, each of which features a chart listing the bang for the buck of foodstamps at variously $1.71 or $1.74 per dollar spent, with an attribution of only "Source: Moody Analytics" -- I guess we're just supposed to take their methodology for granted, as the search didn't turn up any source study.

I am mystified by the amazing wealth-generating power of food stamps. Indeed, one might think that if you just spent money on the items they list (see below) that generate more than a dollar of stimulus per dollar spent, there'd be no end of growth we could experience! None of the charts mention the obvious thought of  diminishing returns:

Fiscal Policy Multipliers

As of 2011Q2

Tax Cuts                                  Bang for the Buck

Refundable Lump-Sum Tax Rebate                        1.22

Nonrefundable Lump-Sum Tax Rebate                     1.01

Temporary Tax Cuts

Child Tax Credit, ARRA parameters                     1.38

Payroll Tax Holiday for Employees                     1.27

Earned Income Tax Credit, ARRA parameters             1.24

Job Tax Credit                                        1.20

Making Work Pay                                       1.19

Payroll Tax Holiday for Employers                     1.05

Across-the-Board Tax Cut                              0.98

Housing Tax Credit                                    0.82

Accelerated Depreciation                              0.29

Loss Carryback                                        0.25

Permanent Tax Cuts

Extend Alternative Minimum Tax Patch                  0.53

Make Dividend and Capital Gains Tax Cuts Permanent    0.39

Make Bush Income Tax Cuts Permanent                   0.35

Cut in Corporate Tax Rate                             0.32

spending increases

Temporary Increase in Food Stamps                     1.71

Temporary Federal Financing of Work-Share Programs    1.64

Extending Unemployment Insurance Benefits             1.55

Increased Infrastructure Spending                     1.44

General Aid to State Governments                      1.34

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)    1.13

I'd love to see the methodology involved. I've been involved in these sort of exercises in private business, and deconstructed a few others in the path. Voodoo math tends to be the rule, not the exception.

It occurs to me that it's interesting that one of the papers was titled How the Great Recession Was Brought to an End, published July 27, 2010. Dear reader, think back to July 2010 (or a few months earlier as, hopefully, this paper wasn't researched and written overnight), were you feeling that the Great Recession was over? How about now? Everything's just peachy, right?

Another Kid Persecuted For Doing Absolutely Nothing Wrong

Interrogated Until He Wet His Pants and Suspended for 10 Days: This Is What Happened to a 5-Year-Old Who Brought a Cap Gun to a School

The mother said the principal told her that if the cap gun had been loaded with caps, it would have been deemed an explosive and police would have been called in.

Really? It seems like we're seeing a new episode like this every single week. The common threads I'm seeing in all the occurrences are:

1. The school never admits that its no toy guns policy is wrong.
2. Neither does anyone else in authority (parents, teachers, administrators, police).

The problem isn't over-zealous application of the rule. The problem is that the rule itself is insane. There's nothing wrong with kids playing with toy guns. It's perfectly normal and healthy. You're free to disagree with me on that, but you're not free to persecute my kid if I want to let him play with them.

It's pretty obvious when you look at the details of these cases -- pop tarts chewed into gun shapes, tiny toy Lego guns, tiny action figure guns, squirt guns, cap guns -- that safety isn't the issue here. If you assume that a rule's effect is in line with its purpose, then the purpose is obviously to shame children into believing that playing with toy guns is bad, horrible aberrant behavior.

I short circuited this entire process of indoctrination about 22 years ago when we started homeschooling my oldest. Most of my kids have never set foot in a traditional school setting. Especially not at very young, impressionable ages.

I can't help but believe that the indoctrination system we call the education system in this nation is beyond saving. I wasn't willing to put my children at risk on the off chance I could make a difference.

It's Just Swedish "Youths" Having Trouble Integrating. Nothing To See Here.

This Fox News story, Riots in Sweden raise questions about nations egalitarian culture runs 876 words and never once uses the words "Muslim" or "Islam," despite the fact that nearly (entirely?) 100% of the rioting "youths" are Muslim.

It's a fact of history that multi-cutural nations are troubled nations. It's also a fact of history and current events that Muslim dominant nations are violent and oppressive (they get much less violent once they've oppressed all the opposition into non-existence -- except for their violence against apostates and women). Also, there's a reason that "Balkanized" is a word, and the more Balkanized a nation is, the more troubled it becomes. Near the end of the article:

Prime Minister Reinfeldt has acknowledged that Sweden's income disparities increased, but said it primarily occurred before he came to power in 2006, and that he remains proud of his country's liberal immigration policies.

Reinfeldt said the transition can be trying, but he added: "We are more open than other countries. Long term, as a society, we win on this. It will lead to more people getting jobs. It will contribute to a more exciting and open society."

There has never been a society that has "won" on this. Not even the United States.

He's right about one thing, though. Swedish society is certainly getting more exciting.

Update: If I'd been trying to write parody, I couldn't have come up with this stuff. From Powerline:

The police are doing nothing to stop the riots:

 ”We go to the crime scenes, but when we get there we stand and wait,” elaborated Lars Byström, the media relations officer of the Stockholm Police Department. ”If we see a burning car, we let it burn if there is no risk of the fire spreading to other cars or buildings nearby. By doing so we minimize the risk of having rocks thrown at us.”

But don't even think of violating parking laws in the midst of the chaos:

Swedish parking laws, however, continue to be rigidly enforced despite the increasingly chaotic situation. Early Wednesday, while documenting the destruction after a night of rioting in the Stockholm suburb of Alby, a reporter from Fria Tider observed a parking enforcement officer writing a ticket for a burnt-out Ford.

When questioned, the officer explained that the ticket was issued because the vehicle lacked a tag showing its time of arrival. The fact that the vehicle had been effectively destroyed – its windshield smashed and the interior heavily damaged by fire – was irrelevant according to the meter maid, who asked Fria Tider’s photographer to destroy the photos he had taken.

This is insane. Behavior like this was once the province of Kafka novels and Monty Python sketches. To see it acted out in real life is just mind-boggling.