North Coast Online

Who Did He Plagiarize That Line From?

Y'know, I could be convinced to vote for a Democrat(ic) presidential candidate -- even if he were black -- but just only so long as he's clean (and articulate.)

In Other News: Fat People Eat Too Much

Gosh.  To think that they had to study this.

Chimps hold clues to roots of domestic violence

Violent male chimps have provided new insights into the cause of wife beating, holding up a kind of mirror to help scientists understand the roots of domestic violence

Male chimpanzees can be highly aggressive toward female group members, even using branches as clubs to beat them. Research carried out over many years in the Kibale National Park in Uganda now links this to female promiscuity and suggests that there would be more attacks on women if human society was as promiscuous as ape society.

However, another conclusion of today’s study is that because men play a role in bringing up children, unlike male apes, they are aggressive towards women who they suspect of cheating on them, since they may end up having to raise another man’s child.

I can't help but wonder how many bananas some poor taxpayer somewhere had to cough up to learn of these startling revelations.  Men are jealous, who knew?

Rodin Woud Be Hard-Pressed To Come Up With A Sculpture For This Lot

Don Boudreaux's speculations on the nature of modern politicians strike me as believable.

Call me cynical but I doubt that most politicians who promise to solve (real and imaginary) problems by passing statutes truly believe their own rhetoric. They might not disbelieve what they say, but I'm convinced that politicians don't ponder the complexities of reality deeply enough to convince themselves of the truth of what they proclaim. They say what they say and promise what they promise chiefly as a means of ascending to power and glory.

I suspect that people self-select into politics because they have an unusually large lust for being in the limelight and an unusually small concern for the ethics of the actions they must take to get there. And because enough voters stand ready to blame their own (real and imaginary) misfortunes on the evil doings of "the rich" or "the corporate elite," unprincipled power-seekers are eager to ride this ignorance into office.

What else could be said about some of our own politicians who would legislate our diets and show more concern for allegedly mistreated elephants than they do the chronic unemployment and resultant poverty of their own constituents?  Deep thinking doesn't appear to play much of a role. 

May The Best Climate Model Win

Via Arnold Kling comes this suggestion for reining in the climate Cassandras.

The U.S. government should set up a prize fund totaling $400 million, payable in 2031. The prize fund would be open to any U.S. university with accredited science or engineering programs. The fund would be awarded as $200 million for first place, $100 million for second, $50 million for third, $25 million for fourth, $12 million for fifth, $6 million for sixth, $3 million for seventh…and $1 million until we run out of money.

Prizes would be awarded for most closely predicting the following parameters:

1) globally averaged surface temperature anomaly for 2029-2031, relative to 1990;
2) globally averaged lower tropospheric temperature anomaly for 2029-2031, relative to 1990;
3) Atlantic hurricane basin sea surface temperature anomaly for 2029-2031, relative to 1990;
4) average insured U.S. hurricane losses for 2029-2031

Kling sees some problems with the idea but likes the idea of "coaxing climate science out of the cave of religion."  I like it because I believe in economic incentives and this has the benefit of rewarding results instead of encouraging a competition to out-shout your competitors for research money.

Record Theater

Record Theater's closing its Main Street store.  Now, some of you young 'uns may not realize what a big deal it was when it opened, but there was nothing else like it in upstate New York.  I used to drive there regularly from Jamestown in the late seventies; and a long trip it was, too.

Of course, in those days, I only knew one way to get there:  Take Route 60 from Jamestownto to Route 20 in Fredonia.  Take that till it turns into Transit Road, um, somewhere past Rich Stadium.  Turn left on Main Street by the new mall (Eastern Hills) and follow it all the way downtown.  And back out the same way to get home.  Didn't we have maps, you ask? 

Yes, of course we did, but parchment was very expensive during the Carter administration.

Poor People Are Stupid

Corresponding, not so long ago, with another local blogger -- a self-identified Republican at that -- I found myself the recipient of a scathing email for having asserted that poor people are poor by their own choice.  Now, by that, of course, I'd simply meant that the opportunity exists to become rich if people will only do what's necessary. 

I'm quite poor myself by the way, but it's only because I don't really want to exert myself or to get the education necessary to go into a field that pays better.  I've found my comfort zone, I suppose, and in the end if I don't make much money, it's my own fault.

Imagine the outrage I'd have provoked, though, had I stated that poor people are stupid.  Whoa, that's just not said, though most people of the progressive persuasion in New York certainly imply it. 

Democratic state lawmakers, including one from Buffalo, are seeking to rein in the controversial rent-to-own industry in New York with legislation capping the prices the stores can charge and mandating additional consumer disclosures.

The bill, introduced in the Assembly this month, marks a significant challenge to a profitable industry that has long been denounced by consumer advocates for gouging low-income consumers.

Imagine that, a law capping prices that a legitimate business may charge its customers.  And not in this case a business that makes huge profits like the evil "Big Oil," just average street-corner furniture and appliance rental stores (that's what they are after all.)  While the legislature purports to rein in unsavory business practices, their unspoken goal is to protect people they consider idiots from spending too much of what little money they do have.

You know, those poor people who patronize the rent-to-own stores don't live in a vacuum.  Even if they don't comb the newspaper ads for bargains, they certainly see television commercials for Wal-Mart and Valu-City.  They know how much furniture costs, they understand completely how much a new computer sells for and they can do the math comparing weekly trips to the laundromat with buying a washing machine.

They know very well that by putting aside a few dollars with each check, they could eventually own their heart's desire, but they want their new stuff now and they're willing to pay through the nose for it.  You can call it short-sighted -- it is.  But please, don't call it "gouging" the consumer and embark on a noble crusade to save the poor from themselves in the name of reining in unsavory business practices. 

When all the rent-to-own stores are gone, when no one in Buffalo will cash a check and when the last anti-casino lawsuit has been won;  the poor people will still be poor.  If New York would put as much effort into creating a business climate that could create jobs for the poor as it does into making them more comfortable in their poverty, we'd all be a lot better off.

And the no-longer-poor could then get credit and bury themselves in legitimate debt like the rest of us.

What If The Elephants Are Paid A Living Wage?

OK, so we know all about the cellphones, the motorcycle helmets and the prohibition on trans fat.  This morning we heard about regulations specifying minimum weights for models and tonight we read that our esteemed Common Council will consider banning circuses with lions, elephants and "other exotic animals" from performing in the City. 

Lately I'd been somewhat complimentary of Buffalo's elected leaders.  Since the financial control board was put in place, they've been unable to spend money like drunken, um, Common Council members and had focused on improving city services and our general quality of life.  But just lately they seem to have grown tired of those unglamorous pursuits and are considering more and more silly laws proposed by advocates for this cause or the other -- few of whom ever have any real credentials or proof of their grievances.

We may need to consider yet another control board, one that would simply stand by and feed the Council Prozac whenever they decide to practice their Big-Apple-On-The-Niagara impressions. Let the circus come to town.  In fact, do it for the children and the working families.  They'll thank you.

Spending $43 To Save $1

To read the Buffalo News today you might have the impression that Governor Spitzer's proposed budget is a dream come true.

Property taxes would be cut by $1.5 billion in 2007-08 under a proposal announced Tuesday by Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer.

The average homeowner's property tax bill in Erie County would be cut by about $400 in the coming fiscal year, beyond what is already planned under the state's STAR tax-reduction program. The cut, which targets middle-class taxpayers, would especially benefit families making less than $60,000 annually.

As he prepared to present his first budget proposal today for New York State, Spitzer vowed to continue the cap on rising Medicaid expenses for local governments, provide a new push to consolidate "too many, too expensive and too burdensome" layers of local government and provide a big surge of funds to distressed cities, including Buffalo.

Spitzer said his proposed budget will contain $2.8 billion in savings, driven in large part by cuts in spending for health care that the hospital and nursing home industries - warning of further strains on care for patients - are already preparing to fight.

Tax cuts?  A cap on Medicaid? "Surge" new funds to distressed cities?  Save almost $3 billion? However can he accomplish all that, you ask wisely.  Here's how.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer today announced a 2007-08 budget plan that totals $120.6 billion.

The plan calls for raising no new taxes, but increases fees by $68 million. The biggest new fee comes from expanding the bottle bill to include non-carbonated beverages and collecting all the unclaimed funds from both carbonated and non-carbonated beverage containers.

The governor's budget, far from being the painful and ascetic document that will have the special interests howling actually increases spending in New York by 6.3% or about three times the rate of inflation.  The savings he's talking about are savings from some programs (primarily health care cuts) that will be spent on other programs with plenty more on top.  And as for those "fee" increases, I guess we can be glad he didn't call them "loans." 

Too Fat, Too Thin, Ah -- Just Right

CBS News announced this morning that New York State Assemblyman Jose Rivera (Democrat, but then you could have figured that out for yourselves) is proposing to set minimum weight limits for runway models in New York City.  They're too thin, you know.

I suppose this dovetails nicely with legislative efforts already under way to control citizen obesity , i.e. the banning of trans fats.  Really, folks, at some point we have to start laughing out loud and pointing at these people whenever they dare show their faces on the street. 

Thank God Hillary's Safe

Some ruffians have been arrested for having the audacity to protest outside her offices.

Capitol Hill (AP) - U.S. Capitol Police have arrested six people outside the offices of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Sergeant Kimberly Schneider says the six people were demonstrating outside of the New York Democrat's suite of offices in the Russell Senate Office Building around 11 a.m.

Senate rules prohibit such demonstrations inside of buildings located in the U.S. Capitol complex.

Schneider says the people are being charged with disorderly conduct.

Which is more of a penalty, as far as I can determine, than these valiant Americans received.

To The Sounds Of The Stamping Of Tiny Feet

Don Luskin on "bipartisanship" when it comes to Social Security.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is applauded for seeking a bipartisan consensus in which "everything is on the table," including a tax increase. President Bush is booed for signaling that while he'll discuss that possibility, he is strongly opposed to it. Every Democrat quoted in the story staunchly insists -- with no room for equivocation or debate -- that a tax hike be part of the solution. Here's a whopper from Dem senator Kent Conrad:

``Both sides have to be willing to give up their fixed positions,'' Conrad, 58, said at a Washington press conference last week. ``There needs to be more revenue.''

Huh? Give up "fixed positions" other than that there "needs to be more revenue!

At the same time, Bush is portrayed as stubborn and inflexible because he is willing to discuss tax hikes, but comes into the discussion opposed to them. Why is one side in this debate entitled to inflexible requirements for the outcome, and the other not? Simple -- there are two reasons. One, because the liberal media is writing the story, so it seems perfectly sensible for the least flexible people to call the most flexible people inflexible. Two, because no good deed goes unpunished -- Bush took the high road and said he would be flexible, so now any expression of his own opinions is used by his enemies as a sign of hypocrisy.

Bipartisanship always means that Republicans agree with Democrats.

Gives New Meaning To Facing Your Maker

You've probably heard about the London prison that's reorienting its toilets to conform to Sharia law, Limbaugh did a riff on it today among others.

Toilets in one London prison are getting a face-lift — or rather, a change in direction — to accommodate Muslim inmates who can't use them while facing Mecca, a British newspaper reported.

Government officials ackowledged using tax dollars for the changes to the facilities, but maintained that moving the toilets was part of "on-going refurbishment," according to an article in The Sun.

Islamic code prohibits Muslims from facing or turning their backs on the direction of prayer when they use the bathroom. Muslim prisoners complained of having to sit sideways on toilets so as to not break code.

Faith leaders in the government pressured officials to approve turning the toilets 90 degrees at HMP Brixton in London.

A Muslim American rights worker commended the London prison system for their actions, but said the problem, so far, doesn't appear to be an issue in the U.S.

"There have been very significant and numerous complaints at U.S. prisons on issues of regulating hygiene and respect for dietary laws," said Ibrahim Ramey, director of human and civil rights work for Muslim America Society. However, Ramey said he was unaware of any specific complaints regarding the direction of toilets in U.S. prisons.

Well, that's a relief (no pun intended.)  I really have to wonder, though, if Islamic code actually does specify the orientation of toilets or if that's just one imam's interpretation.  The controversy reminds me of those Muslim cab drivers in Minneapolis who swear that Sharia forbids them to transport passengers carrying alcohol in their luggage or who are accompanied by dogs (even of the seeing-eye variety.)

Other Muslims have called them out, claiming that while they may not consume adult beverages or own dogs, themselves, there's no restriction against accommodating those who do.  It begins to sound as if Sharia law is as fuzzy and prone to divergent interpretations as our own common law.  And I can't help but wonder if  we're (or the Brits in the case of the apostatising toilets) aren't just being fed a load of crap for the sake of a good laugh.

Blinding Us With Science

Henry Waxman misspeaks.

The Democratic chairman of a House panel examining the government's response to climate change said Tuesday there is evidence that senior Bush administration officials sought repeatedly "to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming."

There's no need to inject doubt into the science of global warming, the doubt already exists.  What the administration is trying to do is inject some doubt into the crusade to insist that there is no doubt.

Don't believe me?  Here's an example.  The father of a California student found out that his daughter's school was to show the Al Gore film, An Inconvenient Truth, with no opposing views.  After complaining to the school, the showing was cancelled -- but only for a few days.  Seems the teacher just couldn't find any opposing viewpoints -- her underfunded district no doubt couldn't afford computers that could access Google.

In this case, Walls told the Washington Post that she could not find any authoritative articles that counter "An Inconvenient Truth" -- other than a 32-year-old Newsweek article. CNN apparently went to the same school as Walls, as it aired a segment in which University of Maryland professor Phil Arkin asserted, "I don't think there is legitimately an actual opposing viewpoint to the 'Inconvenient Truth' film."

Allow me to present a few names. Massachusetts Institute of Technollogy's Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology Richard S. Lindzen complained to the Boston Globe about the "shrill alarmism" of Gore's flic. Neil Frank, who was considered authoritative when he was the director of the National Hurricane Center, told the Washington Post that global warming is "a hoax." Hurricane expert William Gray of Colorado State University believes the Earth will start to cool within 10 years.

University of Virginia professor emeritus Fred Singer' co-authored a book," Unstoppable Global Warming -- Every 1,500 Years," that argues that global warming is not human-induced but based on a solar cycle. Last year, 60 Canadian scientists signed a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in which they argued that there is no consensus among climate scientists.

Odd, isn't it? Global warming believers heap scorn on religious zealots for not valuing science and knowledge. Yet the thrust of their argument to prove apocalyptic global warming relies on denying the existence of views and scientists who clearly exist.

As the science of climatology improves and as more and more scientists begin to express doubts about the validity of the theory of human-caused global warming, we could expect people on both sides would be studying each other's data with equal interest.  But as it is now, the skeptics study while the advocates exaggerate, hurl insults and insist on drastic governmental action now.

Scientific debates aren't carried on in such a manner; political debates often are, though.

The "ic" Factor

Uh-oh, Bush has really stepped in it now.

This one has gotten a little ic-ky for the White House. President Bush said Monday he wasn't trying to disparage the party now running Congress by referring to it as the "Democrat majority," as opposed to the "Democratic majority," in his State of the Union speech.

"That was an oversight," Bush said in an interview with National Public Radio. "I mean, I'm not trying to needle."

Bush's dropping of the "ic" at the end of the word prompted grumbling by Democrats that he purposely got their name wrong.

I know from personal experience that Democrats are very sensitive to the dropping of their beloved suffix,  but for Republicans the situation raises serious issues.  To begin with, there's the fairness question.  After all, we chose a name for our party that serves both as noun and adjective; it hardly seems right that they would get two descriptors.

And then, of course, there's the question of linguistic accuracy.  Some times, and it must be said, Democrats do not behave democratically and therein, I believe lies the solution.  From now on, I propose that when a straight-up vote is held in the House after free and open debate, you may refer accurately to the Democratic majority.  But when, for example, Chuck Schumer is leading a filibuster against a Bush court nominee, then plain-old Democrat will have to do.

Given the vagaries of English grammar and syntax, the above guidelines will remain completely voluntary. 

Are Teachers Professionals?

Not if these criteria are correct.

Oh, How I Love The Smell Of Subsidies In The Morning

Did you all catch the big media coverage last week that -- finally! -- even corporate America has caught on to the impending threat of global warming?

Concern over global warming is no longer all about Al Gore and his slides of suffering polar bears.

The issue has been embraced by some of America's largest corporations, including General Electric, Alcoa, DuPont and locally based FPL Group. They are reframing a debate over science to one over how to apply American knowhow to avert a crisis. Suddenly, caring about global warming is in vogue

Well, of course it is!  Big money's at stake and since Congress -- even our newly-elected and hair-shirt-wearing Democrat one -- has cast itself in the role of Father Dispenser-of-favors, why wouldn't corporate America line up at the confession booth to get some?

The leftist media despises corporate welfare, but it seems that in their zeal to see human-caused global-warming brought to heel, they're willing to suspend their own belief-systems when large corporations seem to agree with them.  Well, welfare payments are welfare payments, whether they go to fat women in Chicago who hate to work or wealthy executives in New York who, um, know where their bread is buttered.

DuPont has been plunging into biofuels, the use of which would soar under a cap. Somebody has to cobble together all these complex trading deals, so say hello to Lehman Brothers. Caterpillar has invested heavily in new engines that generate "clean energy." British Petroleum is mostly doing public penance for its dirty oil habit, but also gets a plug for its own biofuels venture.

Finally, there's General Electric, whose CEO Jeffrey Immelt these days spends as much time in Washington as Connecticut. GE makes all the solar equipment and wind turbines (at $2 million a pop) that utilities would have to buy under a climate regime. GE's revenue from environmental products long ago passed the $10 billion mark, and it doesn't take much "ecomagination" to see why Mr. Immelt is leading the pack of climate profiteers.

CEOs are quick learners, and even those who would get smacked by a carbon cap are now devising ways to make warming work to their political advantage. The "most creative" prize goes to steel giant Nucor. Steven Rowlan, the company's environmental director, doesn't want carbon caps in the U.S.--oh, no. The smarter answer, he explains, would be for the U.S. to impose trade restrictions on foreign firms that aren't environmentally clean. Global warming as foil for trade protectionism: Chuck Schumer's dream.

Those of you who are convinced that I'm nothing but a capitalist lackey may be surprised to find out that I detest corporate welfare as much as you.  Full disclosure:  I am a capitalist, but I'm no lackey, dammit. 

But as long as we ignore the call for what Ayn Rand once termed a separation of state and economics, we're going to end up with situations like this where the Democrats, of all people, suddenly find themselves favoring big corporations and willing to grant them tax breaks, subsidies and tariffs just so long as it fits their particular goals. 

I happen to think that man-made global warming is a crock and so, probably, do these CEO's.  But as Señorita Juan Pelosi wends her way down the hill flanked by donkeys laden with taxpayers' cash, who could possibly blame them for smelling the coffee.

Milton Friedman Day And Idiotarianism

Monday was Milton Friedman day and Arnold Kling posted the most succinct essay on the great man's ideas I've read.

I call this the Fundamental Problem of Political Economy. How do we limit the power that idiots have over us?

One solution, that might be traced to the expression "philosopher-king" associated with Plato, is to hand the reins of government to the best and the brightest. Since the late 19th-century, the Progressive Movement in American politics has championed this approach...

The other way to avoid having our lives run by idiots is to limit the power that others have over us. This is the approach that was embedded in our Constitution, before it was eviscerated by the Progressives. It is the approach for which Milton Friedman was a passionate advocate.

I posted earlier today on the two dominant approaches to health care in the United States and how they can never be reconciled because the debate has come to be defined by ideology.  The progressives (who are, nonetheless, sincere in their desire to see every citizen insured) would turn the entire system over to the federal government.  The "rest of us," content with what we have, while cogniznant of the need to accommodate the indigent, would leave it a matter between us and our chosen insurance companies.

Put another way, I desperately want to avoid giving the idiots any more power over my life than they already have.  I would pay more and accept less if that's what it would take to retain control over my own life; but in the case of health care that certainly needn't be the case.  If the progressives can restrain themselves to worrying over the truly needy, the "rest of us" can put the needed changes into place -- tort reform, allowing out-of-state insurance purchases and catastrophic-care policies -- that will reduce costs.

Just please, let's not give more power to the idiots.   

Why Didn't We Hear About This?

I wonder why this little incident from that anti-war march wasn't publicized more in the media?

Anti-war protesters were allowed to spray paint on part of the west front steps of the United States Capitol building after police were ordered to break their security line by their leadership, two sources told The Hill.

According to the sources, police officers were livid when they were told to fall back by U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Chief Phillip Morse andDeputy Chief Daniel Nichols. "They were the commanders on the scene," one source said, who requested anonymity. "It was disgusting."

After police ceded the stairs, located on the lower west front of the Capitol, the building was locked down, the source added.

A second source who witnessed the incident said that the police had the crowd stopped at Third Street, but were told to bring the police line in front of the Capitol.

Approximately 300 protesters were allowed to take the steps and began to spray paint "anarchist symbols" and phrase such as "Our capitol building" and "you can’t stop us" around the area, the source said.

Kind of spoils the impression of responsible "everypeople" demonstrating peacefully doesn't it?  Just a few radicals after all, weren't they?  Probably wouldn't sit well with Mr. and Mrs. America, would it?  Better squelch it, hadn't we?

I can't help but wonder what the coverage might have been like had a bunch of radical pro-lifers spray-painted "Choose Life" on the steps of the Capitol the week before.  I'd wager that Katie Couric would still be clinging to her inhaler.

English, Language the

English is a wonderful language:  so easy to manipulate and so easy to screw up.  Y'know, it really is OK to end a sentence with a preposition.  As illustrated in this passage from California's Antelope Valley Press.

California has upwards of 33 million inhabitants, with more arriving every day. Freeways are jammed. Airports are crowded. Something has to be done to move around all these Californians.

And it has.  Just ask the residents of Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Oregon.  They've moved around those Californians pretty effectively.  No high-speed rail required, thank you very much.

Mayor Of The Chocolate City

The execrable Mayor Nagin showed up in front of a Senate committee Monday to once again demonstrate his incredible lack of perspective and, well, intelligence.

Mayor Ray Nagin told a Senate committee Monday he doesn't see the will to fix his hurricane-battered city when compared with the billions spent on the war in Iraq.

That's a bit like whining that the city hasn't repaved my street even though it's spending $1 billion to rebuild our schools.  The one does not affect the other and they're done for entirely separate reasons.  And as the article points out, his biggest beef should perhaps be directed toward his own state government.

As of January 18, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to pay for $334 million for infrastructure repairs in New Orleans, but the state only has forwarded $145 million to the city so far.

State officials have said city leaders failed to provide required documentation, which called cumbersome.

To which Nagin replied:

"I strongly urge you to return responsibility and accountability to the local government," he said.

And for those of you who are not familiar with the Southern dialect means, "give me the money, no strings attached.  You can trust me (wink, wink.")  There was, however, at least one person in the gallery who evidently supported the good Mayor.

Earlier, a protester shouting "Stand up for Justice" interrupted committee chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman as he opened the hearing.

The man yelled, "Stand up for justice! We want somebody to stand up for justice!"

At which point a law enforcement officer did and escorted him out of the room.  And so it goes.

Black Like They

Barack may have accomplished the impossible.  He just might have found the issue that will not only resound with white Democrats, but could prove his "black" bona fides as well.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama blasted the Bush administration Monday for the slow pace of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts and what he saw as a lack of urgency at the White House.

"There is not a sense of urgency in this administration to get this done," said the Democratic senator from Illinois. "You get a sense that will has been lacking in the last several months

Now, while I do know that the Democrats can't win national elections without almost all of the black vote, I'm not sure how important it is to getting the nomination.  South Carolina's early primary notwithstanding, I just don't picture high black turnout for primary elections. 

But the race is on [no pun intended] nonetheless to capture it.  And, you see, that's no easy task.

The Democrat party is a vast coalition of various identity groups and so each candidate, when he's courting a particular constituency must actually demonstrate that he "is" that constituency. And this year, watching Barack try and demonstrate his blackness will be almost as entertaining to watch as Edwards claiming his poorness and Hillary proving her, um, humanness.  They each have long rows to hoe.

"S"ave "O"ur "S"tate

Governor Spitzer has an op-ed in today's Daily News, and the opening sentence tells us all we need to know about his plans for New York State.

New governors from California to New Jersey have cut spending and reordered priorities in recent years in an attempt to get their states on a path toward stability and prosperity.

An odd choice of states there, Guv.  As you well know, California and New Jersey haven't cut spending by a single penny under their new Governors; in fact they're spending more than ever -- bucketsful of it.  At best they may be moving some money out of one bucket and into another or as you put it "reprioritizing."

But while reducing spending in some areas to increase it in others may have some salutary effects, only an overall decrease in New York's bloated budget -- with the concomitant tax cuts to pay for it -- will ever stand a chance of helping New York grow.  That old cliche, "moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic," is sorely tempting me right now, but I'll resist.

The Health Care Debate. Chapter 24,839

Doug Turner editorializes in favor of nationalized health insurance today, though he uses the euphemism "single-payer" to describe it.  The immediate inspiration for his piece was President Bush's State of the Union  proposal to change the taxable status of health insurance.  A proposal Turner dismisses as, get this, "ideological."

Think of it as the domestic policy twin of President Bush's indirect reference in his 2003 State of the Union message to yellow cake uranium.

Four years ago, Bush's infamous 16-word warning that Saddam Hussein shopped in Africa for materials for a nuclear bomb helped Bush launch the Iraq War.

Last Tuesday night, with no more hard facts and less interest in the welfare of worried citizens, Bush told Congress and the nation that he has a plan to expand health coverage to the uninsured.

Right, no discernible political agenda there, Doug.

Turner goes on to round up the usual suspect statistics that get trotted out whenever and wherever proponents of nationalized health-care gather in its name:  46 million uninsured and higher health care expenditures in the U.S. than in Canada.  But in the end, the argument over how to improve our health care system does come down to ideology.

And this is demonstrated just as much by the Democrats' refusal to consider any reforms that don't involve government as it is by any Republican insistence on the opposite.  Now, if you believe the recent media coverage, you'd have to get the impression that the momentum is on the side of the nationalizers.  But little of substance can happen until they can convince the 80% of Americans who do have good insurance coverage that dramatic change will benefit them.

That's the tiny bit that Hillary ignored when she proposed her now-famous reforms in the nineties.  The Dems have no doubt learned from that disaster, but they still can't justify their approach with much more than an appeal to our guilt over the supposed plight of the less fortunate.  That's an increasingly hard-sell especially for New York residents who are very conscious of the excellent Medicaid coverage that our poor already receive at our expense.

Once, when there were no schools for the vast majority of Americans, it wasn't hard to set up a government-funded one.  And when all but a tiny elite had no means of supporting themselves once they could no longer work, Social Security was widely supported.  Nationalized health care comes at a different time with different conditions.  Americans are famously guilt-free when it comes to keeping what we've worked hard to earn for ourselves.

News To Upgrade Its Website

I had often wondered why the Buffalo News website was so far behind those of the Rochester, Syracuse and Albany papers which are all much smaller publications.  Now I know.

The new rules should end the incomprehensible state of affairs which precluded a big, local story from being posted on the paper's website until the following day.  That's no doubt driven a lot of web traffic over to the TV and radio sites.  Despite my occasional criticisms, the Buffalo News is far and away the best and most politically-balanced of all the upstate papers.

This move should be a big help to it.

Lessons Learned?

For those of you who look at Boston and think that Massachusetts has evidently found a way to balance high taxes and prosperity, look again.

A new study revealing that young adults are earning their college degrees and pursuing jobs out of state doesn't surprise anyone but does emphasize the seriousness of the youth and brain drain that afflicts us. The state would like to see a return of its investment in higher education, but if talented, energetic graduates leave the state in droves, there is little return, and communities and the businesses that form their economic base lose as well. Berkshire County has lost 34 percent of its young adults since 1990, creating an aging population that puts a greater strain on health and other services. Young people open to new ideas and more comfortable with diversity also prevent a community from growing stagnant and defeatist, a deep-rooted problem Pittsfield has been fighting to overcome in recent years.

Massachusetts and New York have begun to resemble each other.  Each contains a large, prosperous city that appears to defy economic gravity while the rest of the state is collapsing.  Just a couple hours west of Boston lies Worcester which has seen its population drop by 11% just since 2000.  The entire state's population decreased by 2.75

There are development lessons Buffalo can learn from Boston, but don't draw the wrong conclusions. Boston isn't growing because of high taxes and big-government, it survives despite them.  We're much more closely-related to poor Worcester which is dying because of them.

Tip O'Neill Must Be Rolling In His Grave

Boston

A broken sprinkler pipe in a ventilation building above a Big Dig tunnel flooded parts of the road Saturday morning, prompting state officials to close part of the highway.

I haven't been to Boston since the "Big Dig" opened, but I think I'll avoid the whole mess when I do get back.  The thing scares the crap out of me.

Let The Whitewash Begin

Clinton radiates charm in opening campaign in Iowa

Sorry, but I'd have to see it to believe it.

Obama Exposed!!

A couple weeks ago Insight Magazine printed an article claiming some facts about Barack Obama's life which turned out to false.  Today, though, the London Times weighs in with a much less sensational biography.  Though he never attended a madrassa, Obama's life has been, nonetheless, more, um, exotic than any other American presidential candidate's.

Follow The Money

We talk a lot about regionalism in Buffalo, but nothing ever seems to happen.  But Buffalo's big enough that it can still demand subsidies from New York State to prop up its inefficient government.  Lots o' votes, you know (and mostly Democrat.) 

Small Town Lawyer reports on one Western New York village that has given up a bit of its precious autonomy for the financial benefit of its citizens.  Funny how a lack of clout in Albany can lead to sensible, albeit painful solutions.

Even New York's Bloggers Are Leaving

Rome, NY Sucks has noticed that about half of the Central New York bloggers have, um, left the building.

What ingratitude. 

After all, this is one state that takes care of its own.  We'll pay for our comrades' health care (ambulance rides are free) and give ourselves job-placement advice even when there aren't any jobs.  We'll make sure that the unskilled can earn a decent wage if only someone will hire them and please, have all the kids you want despite your lack of ability to take care of them, because Governor Spitzer has vowed to insure them anyway at his own expense.

Some might say that we're encouraging people to remain poor by offering them so many incentives.  Don't listen to them, they're greedy and very mean people.  If they had their way, New York would be growing just as fast as Texas -- and you know how horrible it is down there.  Poor people are expected to improve their own situations and they have the opportunity to do it.  How awful.

I can't imagine what they're smoking in Texas (and, God forbid, they probably still are smoking,) but thank God we don't expect the same of ourselves.  Now, remind me, why, just exactly did those Central New York bloggers leave?   

Time Warp

The media was in full war-protest-coverage-mode today. NPR, in particular, mobilized its forces and featured the rally at the top of each newscast.  There were, if we're to believe the reports, "tens of thousands" in attendance.  It is funny though, that during all of last week's lightly-covered, anti-abortion protest, I didn't hear a single press crowd-estimate.

Oh well, no matter.  As Scott Ott points out, though, there was not universal approval on the left.

Organizers said the biggest challenge facing the anti-war movement today is how to hold together a loose coalition of groups with divergent agendas using celebrities who peaked in popularity 10 to 30 years ago.

“The speaker roster reminds me of the old Hollywood Squares game show,” said one unnamed staffer of Vegan Lesbians for Racial and Nuclear Justice, whose dozens of members will cross the continent to join the rally today. “I mean Fonda, Sarandon, Glover and Jackson might as well be Charo, Joan Rivers, George Gobel and Paul Lynde. How am I going get my group excited about geopolitical and military strategy with these has beens leading the way?”

Heh.

Ignorant Is As Ignorant Does

One of the anti-Wal-Mart crowd's biggest complaints is that big-box discounters crush small, local businesses.  They're adamant that somehow the community is better off with less choice and higher prices.  What's ironic, though, is that these are generally the same people who cry for an increase in the minimum wage.

Their little hearts beat just a little more quickly when they think of greedy corporations having to cough up some of their ill-gotten gains.  But Wal-Mart, while it certainly doesn't like paying more for labor than is economically sensible, can fairly easily pay the higher wage.  With its market share and negotiating clout, it can wring a couple cents out of each supplier and raise its prices by a barely noticable dollar here and nickel there. 

The true victims will be the same "mom 'n' pops" that the crusaders so dearly wish to protect. The corner deli, the family-owned pharmacy and the local Italian restaurant will find it much harder to raise their prices to cover the wage and will likely cut each employee's hours or decide not to hire when someone quits.  A couple hundred bucks a week can put a small business under faster than you can say "social justice."   

Government regulations almost always favor big business by default.  Large companies can more easily absorb the costs than small ones.  In the end, the economic do-gooders are chasing themselves down the drain by supporting just exactly what they don't want.  It'd be almost funny if it weren't so dumb.

Blah, blah, blah

John F. Kerry's gut has gone silent again.  Alas, the Senator has not.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry slammed the foreign policy of the Bush administration on Saturday, saying it has caused the United States to become "a sort of international pariah."

And Democrats everywhere nod approvingly, completely ignoring the actions of such countries as the UK, Canada, Australia, Poland, Japan and India -- staunch allies of the United States all.

NYC Was Once Given Up For Dead, Too

Interesing, isn't it, the number of New York City residents who now would claim that the city's rebirth in the 1990's was simply coincidental with Giuliani's being the mayor.

After years of tax hikes under Dinkins, Giuliani proposed making up the city’s still-huge budget deficit entirely through spending cuts and savings. Even more audaciously, he proposed a modest tax cut to signal the business community that New York was open for business, promising more tax cuts later. “I felt it was really important the first year I was mayor to cut a tax,” Giuliani later explained. “Nobody ever cut a tax before in New York City, and that was one of the reasons I wanted to set a new precedent.”

...Although Giuliani was no tax or economic expert when he took office, he became a tax-cut true believer when he saw how the city’s economy and targeted industries perked up at his first reductions. One of his initial budgetary moves was to cut the city’s hotel tax, which during the Dinkins administration had been the highest of any major world city. When tourism rebounded, Giuliani pointed out that the city was collecting more in taxes from a lower rate. “No one ever considered tax reductions a reasonable option,” Giuliani explained. But, he added in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Library, “targeted tax reductions spur growth. That’s why we have made obtaining targeted tax reductions a priority of every budget.” In his eight years in office, Giuliani reduced or eliminated 23 taxes, including the sales tax on some clothing purchases, the tax on commercial rents everywhere outside of Manhattan’s major business districts, and various taxes on small businesses and self-employed New Yorkers.

But it wasn't coincidental.  New York City was a well-known urban basket case prior to Rudy's election.  He turned it around with a combination of toughness on crime and friendliness toward business.  We could do it in Buffalo, too.  If only we had a similarly-minded leader who could convince the unions, the "advocates" for the poor and the arts community to heel for a couple years until the revenue from growth started to kick in.

There are so many examples of wealthy, yet reliably-liberal cities who've figured out how to grow while still maintaining their progressive credentials that I'm constantly left wondering why our own tiny urban elite refuses to learn from them.  Toronto, Boston and Portland are three of their favorites (besides the big apple,) and all three welcome and, in fact, luxuriate in business. 

Why do "our" progressives insist on chasing it away?

[UPDATE:]  OK, I realize that the local progressive community doesn't really want to chase business away, they're just clueless about business in general.  They look at Toronto, New York and Boston and draw the conclusion that business is attracted by downtown housing, subways and lots of theaters.

They can't seem to wrap their minds around the fact that those are the results of business growth and not the causes.  Sigh.

Slow Down

I just never got into RSS -- neither did Tyler Cowen.

First, I like the look of individual blog pages.  More importantly, reading blogs for me is a matter of mood.  Right now I feel like reading, say Jacqueline Passey rather than EconBrowser, or vice versa, and I don't want all the new posts thrust in front of my nose at the same time.  I also fear that ongoing use of RSS would lead to reading inflation; I would add new blogs to my feed because it is easy to do so, but encounter the intransitivity of indifference.  I would end up overloaded.

My current reading method "by hand" takes more time, but hey reading blogs is fun and it should stay fun at the margin.  Who wants to be satiated in liquidity?

I like to read everything a blogger has to say and, though I'll admit to putting too much thought into them myself, don't want to depend on titles and lead sentences to guide my reading.

Across The Pond

There's been quite the scandal in the UK over comments made by a British celebrity about an Indian actress.  Racist some say. Chase Me Ladies with his take.

Shilpa Shetty, after being shouted at by some British heifer on TV. She seems to be saying that the sub-human cockney women in the Big Brother house are in some way typical of the United Kingdom. As a member of Britain’s white community, I find that quite offensive. Though I’ll probably get over it.

In the day’s other news, the Magna Carta got fucked and buggered again, and a bunch of tribesmen were massacred in Somalia, for some reason.

Much more good stuff at Chase me ladies, I'm in the cavalry.

Intelligent Health Care Debate

Brad Delong sums up both sides of the health care issue.

Neither prescription [the left's or the right's] will be very effective as a remedy to cost drivers like these. Our irresistible force is our belief that health care should not be rationed by price. Our immovable object is the unwillingness of American taxpayers to be turned into an IV drip bag for the health sector that the health sector itself controls. What happens when these meet is a crisis, which cannot be averted no matter whether we adopt the right-wing prescription, adopt the left-wing prescription, or muddle through.

Is there a magic bullet to reduce these chronic-diseases-of-aging-life-style-driven sources of secularly rising health care costs? I can see only one chance: the nanny state. Lectures every half hour, on every TV channel, by the surgeon general and the assembled celebrities of America, telling us to: lose weight, exercise more, don't smoke, don't drink to excess, watch your fats, watch your sugars, eat your vegetables, et cetera--remember that you are an East African Plains Ape that did not evolve to live in a world where fats and carbohydrates were abundant and smoke damaging to your lungs was laced with nicotine.

There's a lot more (all of with which I do not agree,) but please, read the whole thing.

Better Late Than Never

Kerry: My ‘gut told me’ not to seek presidency

Imagine what we'd all have been spared if his gut hadn't waited all these years to finally speak up.

Let This Be A Lesson

Charleston, WV

Police said they arrested a Charleston man for driving under the influence after he flipped his middle finger at Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford and then crashed his car.

Glenn Harold Vickers, 53, was arrested Thursday night near the Microtel Inn off the Montrose Drive exit in South Charleston.

Just one of those moments you wish forever you could take back, I suppose.

Blame Canada

I've been pretty supportive of the Bush administration's actions to protect us against terrorism.  It doesn't bother me particularly that satellites are monitoring phone conversations with suspected terrorists and I really don't give a damn if some Guantanamo prisoner picked up in Afghanistan doesn't have the right to obtain a writ of habeas corpus.  But I have reached one point of disagreement.

And so it pains me greatly to admit that I support Louise Slaughter's contention that they're screwing up the American-Canadian border big time.

. . . what the administration wants is to force Canada to adopt the American government's dim view of civil liberties by allowing travelers to be fingerprinted if they approach the bridge but then decide not to cross. Canadian law allows fingerprinting only upon arrest.

The issue behind this squabble is shared border management, a forward-looking plan that would allow Customs functions for both countries to be located on one side of the border - in this case, Fort Erie. The change would benefit Canada by putting more jobs over there, but it is especially useful to Buffalo.

Add to that the soon-to-be-implemented passport requirements (already in force for air and ship travelers) and a new and very burdensome paperwork requirement for freight carriers.  By it's actions the government's not only making it harder to cross the border, it's making it downright unprofitable.  And 200 years of friendly relations between the two countries have made border towns like Buffalo economically dependent on cross-border trade.

I noticed years ago as a young manager that I tended to ask more of my dependable employees.  I could count on them after all, and it was just easier to leave the laggards alone and be satisfied with their minimal attempts at working.  It wasn't fair to the good ones, of course.  But when you're pressed for time, you often tend to take the path of least resistance.

I suspect that's what the Bush administration is doing with its regulations on border-crossings with Canada.  I mean, the real problems are on the southern border -- it appears to be a giant, lawless and uncontrollable sieve.  Let's face it, Mexico's a mess. 

But we know we can count on Canada.  They've got the money, the computers and the trained and motivated security forces to make our whims work.  It's wrong of course.  Homeland Security should be concentrating more on Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana than Fort Erie and Lewiston, but the U.S. is taking the path of least resistance and this time I support the Democrats' efforts to change it.

There Oughta' Be A Law

Odd that I didn't hear about this on the local news?

With more residents and business owners complaining about aggressive panhandlers, city officials are considering ways to curb begging.

One City Council member said a license application for panhandling in public places is a possibility. Under that plan, beggars would have to submit basic information about themselves and wear identification tags when they're soliciting.

One gas station owner told The Buffalo News that beggars sometimes hit up his customers while they're pumping gasoline.

Um, how does licensing solve anything?  I've got a better idea, make panhandling illegal!  At the least, I wish business owners would shoo them away and that pedestrians would just say, "no."

Two Americas, Indeed

Raleigh, NC

Presidential candidate John Edwards and his family recently moved into what county tax officials say is the most valuable home in Orange County. The house, which includes a recreational building attached to the main living quarters, also is probably the largest in the county.

“The Edwardses’ residential property will likely have the highest tax value in the county,” Orange County Tax Assessor John Smith told . He estimated that the tax value will exceed $6 million when the facility is completed.

Ungrateful Whelps

A moral dillema:

You're a caring, prosperous first-worlder, who's jetted off to Nairobi to discuss African poverty. 

Unexpectedly, though, the ungrateful poor invade your hotel and eat the food.  Now, African hunger has obviously not been eradicated, but should you complain to the management?

The Best And The Brightest Leave First

The US is suddenly benefiting from a wave of highly-educated and skilled Venezuelans fleeing Chavez's "Bolivarian" revolution.

Venezuelan immigration to the U.S. has gone up more than 5,000% since 2000. Canada has seen a similar surge.

The U.S.-Venezuelan community, centered around the Doral neighborhood of Miami and in the "Little Caracas" city of Weston just north of it, numbers at least 40,000 and may be as high as 180,000, the Miami Herald reports. Houston and Calgary also have Venezuelan communities. In New York City, emigrants from the South American nation are opening chic Venezuelan restaurants.

Who's coming? Not farmworkers or day laborers. Sadly for Venezuela, we're getting the cream of the crop. The doctors working in department stores and teachers working in fast food places are among the many coming here who've had some opportunity to develop their skills as professionals and entrepreneurs.

Weston and Doral are full of business startups, beginning with Venezuelans who own bakeries and restaurants and other businesses. Most assimilate here swiftly. Among them also are software developers, advertising account executives, doctors, scientists, classical musicians and lawyers.

Our gain is Venezuela's loss. These newcomers represent the human capital of Venezuela, something that Chavez, grounded in Marxist materialism, can't understand. He views these talented people as political pawns — traitors.

Read this bit one more time:

These newcomers represent the human capital of Venezuela, something that Chavez, grounded in Marxist materialism, can't understand.

New York, too, is grounded in that same Marxist, materialistic dialectic.  Wealth simply exists and it must be "spread around" for the betterment of society.  But of course, wealth doesn't simply spring out of the earth, people have to create it.  And only the hardest-working risktakers are willing to do so, but they won't unless they can keep what they've earned. 

Why do visions of now-prosperous, formerly unemployed-Buffalonians in Charlotte come to mind?

If It Saves Just One Child

A Catholic school in Rhode Island has banned talking during lunch.  Can't hear the kids who are choking, you know.

Low Blows

Jane Galt notes that on very emotional issues, we tend to assume that our opponents are disagreeing with us "about the aspect of the debate we care most about."  Abortion, anyone?

Egalitarianism

I can't understand why so many on the left worry over income inequality.  Tyler Cowen, in the New York Times, can't either.

The broader philosophical question is why we should worry about inequality — of any kind — much at all. Life is not a race against fellow human beings, and we should discourage people from treating it as such. Many of the rich have made the mistake of viewing their lives as a game of relative status. So why should economists promote this same zero-sum worldview? Yes, there are corporate scandals, but it remains the case that most American wealth today is produced rather than taken from other people.

What matters most is how well people are doing in absolute terms. We should continue to improve opportunities for lower-income people, but inequality as a major and chronic American problem has been overstated.

He doesn't dismiss the question entirely, though.  On his blog, he expands his thoughts.

The Key To A Stolen Election

More e-voting shenanigans.

Imagine if all it took to get inside widely-used Diebold electronic voting machines--perhaps with malicious intentions, such as installing tally-altering software on its memory card--was a photograph of the key to the system's physical lock.

Thanks to a little help from the e-voting outfit itself, it may actually be that simpl