Great article in the Sun today on the LSS by none other than the man himself, Gerry Nicholls.
Check it out. Definitely worth the read.
June 29, 2009
New movie coming out.
2081 Everyone Will Finally Be Equal
It’s a movie version of “Harrison Bergeron“. It was a true classic, written before Kurt Vonnegut became a crazy leftist later in the 60s.
There was also an ealier TV movie, which was quite different, but still great.
The big problem is that it’ll need to be padded out for movie length. The original is just a short story. But you can read the whole thing here.
June 17, 2009
MSM fails again
Look, I was never a bush fan. But the complaints about the Bush White House controlling the media always seemed a little absurd.
The media never seemed to have any problem speaking out against him.
And don’t try to bring up the Dixie Chicks… their problem was that they attacked their fans. The whole thing could have been avoided if Natalie Maines had just given a standard non-apollogy apollogy.
You know what I mean… “Look, I’m just a singer, but the great thing about America is that people can have different opinions. I don’t agree with the war but maybe I used the wrong words. [...] America [...] freedom [...] apple pie [...] I love the flag [...]” and so on.
But I’m getting a bit off topic.
The latest news is really scary. According to the Drudge Report, ABC is essentially turning over their channel to the White House so that they can push the Obama health plan. No opposing views will be allowed, all questions will be screened.
Watch the Canadian press gallery not care.
ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE
Tue Jun 16 2009 08:45:10 ETOn the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care — a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!
Highlights on the agenda:
ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.
The network plans a primetime special — ‘Prescription for America’ — originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.
The Director of Communications at the White House Office of Health Reform is Linda Douglass, who worked as a reporter for ABC News from 1998-2006.
Late Monday night, Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay fired off a complaint to the head of ABCNEWS:
Dear Mr. Westin:
As the national debate on health care reform intensifies, I am deeply concerned and disappointed with ABC’s astonishing decision to exclude opposing voices on this critical issue on June 24, 2009. Next Wednesday, ABC News will air a primetime health care reform �town hall� at the White House with President Barack Obama. In addition, according to an ABC News report, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, WORLD NEWS, NIGHTLINE and ABC�s web news �will all feature special programming on the president�s health care agenda.� This does not include the promotion, over the next 9 days, the president�s health care agenda will receive on ABC News programming.
Today, the Republican National Committee requested an opportunity to add our Party’s views to those of the President’s to ensure that all sides of the health care reform debate are presented. Our request was rejected. I believe that the President should have the ability to speak directly to the America people. However, I find it outrageous that ABC would prohibit our Party’s opposing thoughts and ideas from this national debate, which affects millions of ABC viewers.
In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.
Respectfully,
Ken McKay
Republican National Committee
Chief of StaffMORE
ABCNEWS Senior Vice President Kerry Smith on Tuesday responded to the RNC complaint, saying it contained ‘false premises’:
“ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers — of all political persuasions — even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue.
“ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience.”
Developing…
June 4, 2009
As a follow up
Here’s a classic article far too few have read.
Inequality and Wealth, by Paul Graham.
Here’s a taste…
Suppose you wanted to get rid of economic inequality. There are two ways to do it: give money to the poor, or take it away from the rich. But they amount to the same thing, because if you want to give money to the poor, you have to get it from somewhere. You can’t get it from the poor, or they just end up where they started. You have to get it from the rich.
Paul Graham is a dot com millionaire who founded ViaWeb and sold it to Yahoo (it’s now Yahoo stores). His essays are excellent and under appreciated.
June 4, 2009
Atlas Shrugged: Now more than ever.
Amity Shales has an excellent article up about Ayn Rand’s continuing popularity.
This is a facinating point….
Back Ache
You get the feeling plenty of Atlases are shrugging these days, in part because their tax burden is getting heavier. It’s interesting to compare sales of “Atlas Shrugged,” provided by the Ayn Rand Institute, to Internal Revenue Service distribution tables.
In 1986, a year when “Atlas Shrugged” sold between 60,000 and 80,000 copies, the top 1 percent of earners paid 26 percent of the income tax. By 2000, that 1 percent was paying 37 percent, and “Atlas Shrugged” sales were at 120,000. By 2006, the top 1 percent carried 40 percent of the burden.
Yet President Barack Obama has made it clear he would like to see the rich pay a greater share. Anyone irked at that prospect can find consolation in Rand’s fantasy, in which the most valued professionals evaporate from the work place because of such demands.
I never understand why some on the left have so much trouble grasping that output will vary with reward. If there’s a 95% top marginal tax rate, as there was in Labour’s Britain in the 70s, a salesman who makes one big commission early in the year has no motivation to work for the rest of the year. And it’s hard to see how 10 months of X-Box is better for a national economy than actual work.
June 3, 2009
Bailout mainia.
Lp.org has a good story up on the insanity of the bailouts we’re seeing.
Read more here.
Crisis Mode
It doesn’t take much to go from “bad” to “really bad” when government gets involved. This is especially true when those in power have the philosophy that, “If it’s broken, government can fix it.”
Unfortunately, far too often government tries to force itself into problem situations with good intentions that have disastrous consequences. Because many times these consequences aren’t immediate, government officials and the voters who elect them to office don’t learn from these mistakes.
The problem with government “fixes” is that while perhaps well intentioned, they do more harm than good and tend to stick around much longer than planned—much like a crazy uncle who overstays his holiday visit.
Just look at the New Deal. Social Security and Fannie Mae are just two examples of New Deal policies that still linger on at a great cost to taxpayers and the economy.
May 29, 2009
News in the US
The US Census Bureau has annouced that ACORN will be helping them with the upcoming census.
You may recall that ACORN has faced some criticism in the past for employees filing false registrations. It seems that those cases were about lazy employees and not fraud.
Still, I can think of a whole lot of ways this can be bad.
