Dane-geld

Libercontrarian says it all.

Need a laugh?

Cows with guns. HT libercontrarian

Getting It Right

The Anchoress writes on why we need to stay in Iraq. HT neo-neocon

Women Rock!

They won 68 of 249 seats in the lower house of the new Afgan parliament, called the Wolesi Jirga. HT anchoress

Strategic Overview - Iraq

Here's a must read post on the Iraq big picture. Make sure you read this and this, too. This is well worth the time invested. HT instapundit

Juan Cole

gets it wrong on economics. How Juan Cole can say "France has for some time been a capitalist country with a relatively strong economy" is beyond me. France's economy is growing, if that's the word, at about 0.2 percent per year or 0.5 here and the unemployment rate is about 10 percent, 20 to 40 percent in the rioting ghettos. The US economy, which everyone (at least on the left) is bitching about, is growing at about 3.28 percent over the last 5 years. Mr. Cole, who has "long been in love with the place, and the people" seems to be, at least on economic matters, a bit delusional. Maybe he should look up the word "socialism".

One way to lose your job

The oh-so-morally-superior European Union is trying to sack employees by having them declared mentally ill. Sheesh. HT chequer-board

Rainy Day Fund

According to the Denver Post, the legislature may consider setting up a rainy day fund. I think this is a good idea, as long as they set some practical guidelines for using it. Here are a few: The rainy day fund 1) can only be used when the current year general fund revenues will be less than the previous year; 2) can't draw more than 33 percent of the balance in the fund for any one year; 3) can only be used for general fund budget items; and 4) must be the first item replenished when general fund revenues exceed the previous maximum revenue. As to size, perhaps between 5 and 10 percent of the general fund should be sufficient. That will mean a pot of between 350 and 700 million dollars.

I suspect more than a few libertarians will be opposed to this idea, but there are some benefits. It will prevent (or lessen the likelyhood of) battles like we had over Referendum C. It is prudent to have some savings to tide you over any rough spots. If they establish it soon enough, it will prevent the legislature from flushing all the money down the toilet.

Appeasement

doesn't work. HT instapundit

Ref C Hypocrites

I'm really annoyed by all those people who aren't capable of understanding that by voting for Referendum C they became hypocrites. Why? It's really simple. If you want the government to have more money, you don't have to vote on anything. All you have to do is get out your checkbook and write them a check. This is a totally voluntary action that has no impact on anyone other than yourself. Voting, on the other hand, has the very real negative impact of forcing other people to pay for something they don't want.

Dissent

Read the whole thing. HT instapundit

Libertarian paternalism

This post by Austin Bay includes a discussion of Libertarian paternalism that, I think, is a must read for all libertarians who are interested in real, practical politics. Granted, it's not libertuopia, but a way of making progress, of introducing choice to the public.

Iraq

A different view where per capita income has doubled since 2003. HT betsyspage

Education

It looks like KIPP is doing some good. HT betsyspage

True Colors

of the Animal Liberation movement show up in the US Senate

Read Mark Steyn

here and then ask yourself when Jacques Chirac will dial 911 as in "Hello, W? Will you please save my ass?" HT dailydemarche Then get the view from Brussels. HT austinbay Read about the barbarians, too. HT betsyspage

Germany

can't form a government. Ah, the benefits of proportional representation and a parliamentary system of government. Maybe they'll stop sending out welfare checks and people will have to go get real jobs.

Ninth Circuit Sleaze

Here.

Trends?

"The Left is Slouching Towards Gomorrah with all the due speed of an X-15 on amphetamines, and some would assert that they reached that destination long ago. The Right, to a large extent, seemingly doesn't have any objections to eventually reaching Gomorrah...just so long as it is done slowly, gradually, incrementally, with the measured sluggishness of chilled molasses." Read the whole thing here.

Jacques Chirac

Micro-Lending and Bad Ass Mules

Bert Wiener has two must read posts; one on personal micro-lending and another about a mule and a mountain lion mixing it up. Make sure you view the pictures on the latter post.