Monday, August 20, 2007

Down on the Farm

Dan McLaughlin, writing at the Mises Economics Blog, reiterates why state subsidized farms are not beneficial to society in a piece titled Farm Bill Follies.

A farm is a business, nothing more, nothing less. It’s reason for existence is to serve society, and the sign it is doing so is measured by its profitability.

Any business that cannot succeed without government support is unsound. It needs to change, to improve, to become more efficient, or get out of the business. Government support of inefficient producers in any industry only makes it more difficult for those who are efficient and trying to do it right. It also encourages special interests to fight for their share of the loot from the shakedown of taxpayers...

Posted by John Venlet on 08/20 at 06:27 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Back to School - Bulletproof

The new school year is about to begin, once again, and retailers are of course hawking pencils, tenny shoes, spiral notebooks and such.  The normal detritus for kids going back to school.

The above items are nothing new for back to school, but there is one item out there that is new for back to school.  Bulletproof backpacks.

Dads Mike Pelonzi, 43, and Joe Curran, 42, dreamed up the bullet-proof backpack, which also blunts knife attacks, to protect their own children after witnessing the Columbine massacre in 1999.

“It was after seeing what happened in Columbine that we started thinking about this. I’m a parent and so is Joe and we wanted a way of keeping kids safe at school and this is what we came up with,” said Pelonzi, co-owner of MJ Safety Solutions which produces ‘My Child’s Pack’.

The backpacks, which will cost $175, have a super-lightweight bullet-proof plate sewn into the back which weighs no more than a bottle of water. Pelonzi said the material used is a secret.

The plate material meets National Institute of Justice safety standards, said Pelonzi, and during a three-year testing phase, stood up to bullets as well as machete, hatchet and Ka-bar knife attacks.

Yep, send your kids back to school with a bulletproof backpack.  That’ll keep’em safe.

Dads push bulletproof backpacks in schools

Posted by John Venlet on 08/20 at 05:26 AM
(1) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Friday, August 17, 2007

Out

Out for the day.  Back Saturday.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/17 at 01:52 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Thursday, August 16, 2007

A Critcism of Warren Buffett

I have the utmost respect for Warren Buffett, as an astute investor, so I am taken aback by this Buffett comment, uttered at an Obama fundraiser last night, and his musings on wealth redistribution by the hands of the state.

``We really need to figure out some way not to fill the golden goose but actually to have abundance grow.’’

Sir, the methodolgy required “to have abundance grow” is to allow free markets to perform without government intervention.  There is not one political candidate who can facilitate this happening through legislation, unless their leadership is such that it demolishes the both the individual and corporate welfare state which exists in this country.

Mr. Buffett would be better advised to utilize his market knowledge and wealth to create additional businesses, and business opportunities, rather than chumming around with politicos in their quest for control, and he is delusional if he believes that politicians can lead the way.

Obama Can Spread Prosperity, Fairness, Buffett Says

Posted by John Venlet on 08/16 at 06:50 AM
(2) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Michigan Drunk Driving Crackdown Watch

Yesterday evening, while mindlessly watching teevee, I happened to catch a teevee commercial, warning of an impending State of Michigan drunk driving crackdown, which to me played like a severe weather alert.  And much like a severe weather alert, the drunk driving crackdown watch provides individuals with a list of effected counties and times (xls file) and dire warnings of consequences for individuals who may be swept up in the storm of the crackdown.

So, if you’re idiotic enough to drink and drive, consider yourself warned.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/16 at 05:23 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Japanese Free Market Vending Machines

I occasionally purchase a soda pop from a vending machine, but not much else.  And though here in the USA there are vending machines which dispense coffee, sandwiches, and maybe a dozen nightcrawlers, in Japan, vending machines dispense just about everything, it appears.  Eggs, umbrellas, and toilet paper, amongest a myriad of other items, some quite unusual.  Take a look for yourself.

Via Fred Lapides GoodShit.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/15 at 06:03 AM
(2) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Ron Paul - Never Trust a Person with Two First Names

Never trust a person with two first names is a idiosyncratic saying thrown out from time to time by a good friend of mine.

I thought of this little saying this morning when I read the following from a post by Wendy McElroy which is in response to this Ron Paul YouTube video from the Iowa Republican straw poll wherein Ron Paul broaches the subject of abortion.

A YouTube video that makes clear that Paul’s main priority is not anti-war or free trade but the prohibition of abortion. And PLEASE don’t give me the f*cking line that he believes this matter should be left to states as though that position is some sort of benign argument. States’ rights or perogatives do not exist any more than federal rights and perogatives exist; only individuals have rights. What exists is my body and my right to everything that is beneath my own skin. I am not such a blithering idiot as to believe that a politician who wants a smaller government (a local or state government) to absolutely negate my self-ownership is a benign friend while someone who wants a larger government to do so is my vicious enemy. Both are morally equal as enemies, both are politically equal as dangerous.

Too true.  And while I think abortion is repugnant, neither state governments, nor the federal government, should have any say in the matter. 

Posted by John Venlet on 08/15 at 05:08 AM
(2) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Kudos to Hillsdale College

It’s rare, nowadays, for an institution, a business, or other entity to not accept dollars redistributed by the state, which is a shame.  So I was pleased to read this yesterday evening.

Hillsdale College, a private liberal arts school in southern Michigan, announced Monday it will no longer accept state taxpayer money for student scholarships and financial aid.

The state money that students were scheduled to receive this academic year will be replaced by privately raised funds, college officials said. Hillsdale students got about $670,000 in state tuition aid and scholarships last year.

Hillsdale has not taken any federal taxpayer money since its founding in 1844. Now the college won’t take any state taxpayer money, either, likely making it one of only a handful of colleges across the nation to refuse all government money.

Good for Hillsdale College. If only such integrity and independence from government could spread across this nation.

Hillsdale College replaces state scholarship aid with private funds

Posted by John Venlet on 08/15 at 04:28 AM
(1) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Cry Me a River Victimhood

Most of us are aware of the Andy Warholism regarding 15 minutes of fame. Here’s the description provided at Wikipedia, as linked above.

It refers to the fleeting condition of celebrity that attaches to an object of media attention, then passes to some new object as soon as the public’s attention span is exhausted. It is often used in reference to figures in the entertainment industry and other areas of popular culture.

Shannon Love, at the Chicago Boyz blog, noting a comment in response to an Ann Althouse post which skewers a New York Times puff piece on whiny working moms, suggests a modification to the above Warholsim which would be known as Patca’s Law.

The comment from Althouse’s post.

In today’s world, everyone will get their “15 minutes” of victimhood…

Shannon Love’s suggestion.

I vote we christen this Patca’s Law (suggested pronunciation pat-ka).

You know you’re living in a wealthy and compassionate society when people compete over who gets to claim the most victimization.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/14 at 04:52 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Friday, August 10, 2007

Headed North for the Perseids

It’s the weekend to get away from city lights and view the Perseids, though I will also be taking my fly rod to hand.

Peak viewing should by in the early A.M. hours Sunday morning, but since the Earth is already in the dust field of comet Swift-Tuttle, if you’re sitting out in the dark this weekend there’s a good chance you’ll catch a few even at none peak times, so be sure to cast your eyes to the heavens for a possible show.

Back Monday.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/10 at 05:05 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Segway Hype Update

Most of us are familiar with the Segway scooter. This Dean Kamen invention was going to “revolutionize” personal transportation.  On February 25, 2003, I posted a piece regarding the Segway and Dean Kamen titled Talking Out of Both Sides of Their Mouth, wherein I noted Mr. Kamen’s first eschewing government intervention, and then lobbying for government intervention through one of his VP mouthpieces. On July 30, 2003, in a post I titled Novelty Item, I also mentioned the Segway scooter, noting that it was, a novelty item.  I also mentioned goings on about the Segway here in February 2004, and here in September 2006.

Today, I read this.

The device that was supposed to revolutionize urban transportation seems unable to even hold on to a proper fan club.

The Segway Enthusiasts Group of America is disbanding because of inactivity and an absence of candidates for its board of directors, said the group’s treasurer, Fred Kaplan.

The Segway, from the beginning, was all hype, and it will end that way also.

Segway Fan Club Disbands Due to Lack of Interest

Via the Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Web.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/09 at 12:26 PM
(1) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Trapped Utah Miners and the Police

The six miners trapped deep underground in the Crandall Canyon mine are much in the news, and I can understand why this is so.

What I cannot understand, is why the rescue effort requires the services of the Emery County Sherrif’s Office and the Utah Highway Patrol.

Take a look at photos #10, #12, and #13 at this link.

Note the sherrif’s trailer in photo #10, and in photos #12 and #13 the highway patrolman and sherrif’s office Sgt. standing around supposedly “guarding” the entrance to the mine.  Why, exactly, are Utah individuals’ tax dollars being spent here?  There has been no crime committed, nor, I would assume, are either the sherrif’s office or Utah Highway Patrol qualified to actually provide any meaningful rescue assistance.

I can guarantee, though, that both the Emery County Sherrif’s Office and the Utah Highway Patrol will be submitting large bills for services rendered in the rescue effort, though they will have done nothing.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/09 at 09:48 AM
(3) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Headline Laugh of the Day

Madison police capture wanted monkey

Sounds like a classic Keystone Kops episode.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/09 at 06:52 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Hillary "Der Rodham" Clinton and the New Amerikan Komsomol

I wonder if Hillary’s suggestion to create ”...a national training “academy” for bureaubots”., as Billy Beck noted and stated in post titled Formally: American Apparachiki, and Paul Weyrich also notes at Townhall.com in a piece titled A Dangerous Proposal: Government Academies for Public Service, will be modeled along the indoctrinating lines of Russia’s Nashi which was reported on by the New York Times here and by the Daily Mail here.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/09 at 06:30 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Subprime Meltdown Understatement of the Day

Here’s Jack Malvey, the chief global fixed income strategist for Lehman Brothers, commenting on the subprime mortgage market meltdown, as quoted in a New York Times piece titled The Loan Comes Due.

“The magnitude of risk was significantly underappreciated.”

Ya think?  Brilliant, just brilliant.

Posted by John Venlet on 08/09 at 04:58 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Page 2 of 3 pages  <  1 2 3 >