UNIONISM, PART DEUX:

Really this is a good companion to one of my previous posts, but concentrating more on the politics of maintaining a monopoly by pointing out the cronyism involving Nancy Pelosi.

MILK REALLY DOES DO A BODY GOOD:

First read this. Now go to Cold Fury and read the post-game analysis.

UNIONISM:

Great post from The Ville with quote from T.J.

FREE MARKET AT WORK:

Well, mostly anyway. Casey Lartigue discusses an example of entrepreneurship commented upon by William Raspberry in a WashPo editorial. Some kids decided to act as the delivery men for their neighborhood when Domino's, Pizza Hut, et al. refused to do so.

WHY THE LEFT CAN'T COMPETE:

Ben Shapiro claims it's because they can't stand the criticism:

It is easy for liberals to air their views when the audience cannot challenge them. Network news is a perfect example -- when Peter Jennings sympathizes with Palestinian suicide bombers, viewers can kick their televisions and scream at Jennings, but Jennings cannot hear them. If Jennings had a talk show, though, he'd have to deal with the views of his audience. Print media is similar. Maureen Dowd can write nasty things about President Bush but would be hard pressed to respond to a reader's challenge.

[link via Conservative Commentary]

DAILY QUOTE:

"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
-Thomas Jefferson, "Letter to Col. Edward Carrington", January 16, 1787

POT vs. KETTLE SAGA:

Larry Elder points out the they-can-dish-it-out-but-can't-take-it attitude exhibited by many of the so-called leaders of the black community in America. Incidently, he also has a new book out called Showdown which is supposed to be very good.

WEST WING WANING?

According to this critique, the populist - er, popular NBC hit, The Left -- er, West Wing is experinceing a drop-off in viewership. One of the reasons cited is:

Whether the plot has Toby, Josh and Donna (Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford, Janel Moloney) getting stranded in Indiana and being forced to interact with the folksy locals; or president Josiah Bartlett (Martin Sheen) prolonging the interview process as he meets with potential secretaries or quietly asking Leo (John Spencer) to seek legal advice on the Qumari incident; or Sam (Rob Lowe), Toby and Josh hatching some new, quixotic way for hardworking Americans to pay college tuition, The West Wing has been swallowed by its own self-indulgent sermons.

I couldn't agree more -- well I could, but it gets a little tiresome and tedious picking on such an odious beast. [link via i330]

PBS SPECIALS FOR DUMMIES:

Michael, one of the Blowhards, reviews a PBS special on Stephen Foster (composer of such ditties as "Camptown Races", "Oh, Susanna", and "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair") and offers some sage advice for you do-it-yourself types:

For readers who have ambitions to make it in the world of PBS documentaries, 2blowhards herewith offers a partial catalog of put-your-audience-asleep filmmaking tropes. Read, imitate, and get ahead in public television:

*Shots of sunsets.
*Shots of water.
*Shots of empty Colonial-Williamsburg-style interiors.
*Shots of nothing in particular framed by leafy trees.
*Tracking shots over old piano keyboards.
*Slow zooms back from old sepia photographs -- repeat this move endlessly.
*Read out loud a lot of nothing-in-particular passages from letters.
*Make sure the period songs are performed in a prissily nostalgic style.
*For background music, lean heavily on the plink-plonk of a lonely solo piano, or the pulseless noodlings of a ruminative guitar. If you really want to knock 'em unconscious, have a banjo player pluck a few strings really, really slowly.

My only response is that you get what you what pay for -- in this case, the tragedy of the commons.

LIBERTARIAN SMACKDOWN:

Recently I've been looking for intelligent commentary on the problems with libertarianism, but I've been mostly disappointed. Perry de Havilland thought he had come across a good critique, but after a thorough fisking, it really doesn't measure up.

LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE IN ILLINOIS:

Thanks to John Huddock for directing me to this site for Stephanie Sailor who's running on a $0 campaign fund. Unfortunately, I don't think Illinois puts out a Ladies of Liberty Calendar.

McNANNY STATE:

Casey Lartigue has a few comments about HHS Tommy Thompson's "suggestions" to the fast-food industry. [link via Radley Balko] He leads off with one of my favorite T.J. quotes:

“Were we directed from Washington when to sow and to reap, we should soon want bread.”
--Thomas Jefferson

SONGS OF LIBERTY:

Radley Balko (a.k.a. the Agitator) has an article on Tech Central Station that lists the 12 best libertarian rock songs.

STYX TRIBUTE TO PORT AUTHORITY:

I saw Styx perform "Too Much Time on My Hands" live and "unplugged" this morning on Fox and Friends in honor of the N.Y. Port Authority. They and a bunch of other musicians are trying to raise money for the NYPA. The performance was superb.

DAILY QUOTE:

Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from the birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear.
- Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay, Southey's Colloquies on Society par. SC.69

BALLISTIC FINGERPRINTS:

E. Rush Carskadden at Freeside lays down the facts confronting ballistic fingerprinting. You should also click through to the Spinsanity post taking on Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) re this issue.

DAILY QUOTE:

Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.
- Frederic Bastiat, The Law par. L.6

THE NORTH POLL:

Earnest reporting from Scrappleface has exposed how the DNC plans to exploit the latest poll showing that many Americans want to annex Canada:

"This is something we can believe in and our members can identify with," said DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe. "A lot of Democrats lived in Canada during the Vietnam era, so it's like a second home for us. Plus, with socialized healthcare and half the country speaking a language other than English, we think we have a natural constituency up there."

Oh, Canada ...

PROGRESS AGAINST PROGRESSIVISM:

Robert L. Bartley's synopsis of a recent meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society reveals how far we have come, and how far we still have to go. [link via Pejman Pundit].

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE:

Tim Blair has asked for emails of support to be sent to the Australian newspapers in regards to the Bali blast: The Australian; the Sydney Morning Herald; and The Age. My prayers shall go out as well.

THE COWARDLY KILLER:

From this day forward I refuse to refer to that poor excuse of a human being running around the Washington, D.C. metro area shooting people as the "Beltway Sniper." Instead, I will call a spade a spade. This guy is a common coward and nothing more. Snipers actually face adversity by breaching enemy lines and shooting enemy combatants. There's nothing sniperish about waiting outside a gas station or a department store to shoot someone standing still, all because mommy was a crack-whore and daddy loved the bottle more than his little turd of a son. That's cowardice pure and simple. The Cowardly Killer has to make himself feel important by finding a gun that allows him to shoot from up to 600 yards away, and then using it to shoot unsuspecting mothers and fathers while they have their backs turned. I pray to God that this piss-ant worm is caught here in Virginia. It will be short trip to the gas chamber. In fact, for murderers like this, maybe we should bring back public hangings and give the coward all the attention he's crying out for. The chamber or the needle are too good for him; that's how we put down animals we love. When a snake slithers into our homes and threatens our families we get out the machete and cut its head off.

DAILY QUOTE:

The coward only threatens when he is safe.
[Ger., Der Fiege droht nur, wo er sicher ist.]
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Torquato Tasso (II, 3, 207)

What a slave art thou to hack thy sword as thou hast done, and then say it was in fight!
- William Shakespeare, King Henry the Fourth, Part I (Prince Henry at II, iv)

COMIC RELIEF:

If your in the mood for some gut-bustin', check this out. [link via Common Sense and Wonder]

JERSEY GIRLS:

For those of you who enjoyed this link, the New Jersey GOP offers up this profusion of pulchritude. Maybe it's not such a bad place after all ...

LINKY LOVE:

Hello to any Freeside readers. Set yourself down and stay awhile! I must extend a thank you to E. Rush Carskadden and Scott Danahy for this post and my favorite ("damn fine site, actually - I've added it to my dailies"). I sure hope you fellas, and your visitors, continue to come back and enjoy.

DAILY QUOTE:

"Economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment, injury, imprisonment, destruction. The businessman's tool is values; the bureaucrat's tool is fear."
- Ayn Rand