Here’s my proposal: A 50% surtax on anything earned within five years after leaving the federal government, above whatever the federal salary was. Leave a $150K job at the White House, take a $1M job with Goldman, Sachs, pay a $425K surtax. Some House Republican should add this to a bill and watch the Dems react.
Oh, yeah. I want to see this. I want to see this so bad I can taste it. I want this so bad I'm using utterly inapt metaphors. Oh, please, House Republicans, do this, do this, do this, DO THIS!CLASSICAL LIBERALISM
The way we used to beleve in. The way that works. The only way to prosperity for everybody (who wants it and is willing to work for it).
Provocateur… Revolutionary… [*8] -- "Progressives" and leftists in general just think that they're "avant-garde" and "edgy," when really what they mainly do is make everybody around them edgy. The nervous kind of edgy.
The Times Vendetta Continues [*9] -- The Koch Brothers: Guilty of being Rich Without Being "Progressive." The punishment: Everything the "progressives" can think of to throw at them.
Presidential dream: long walk in the park [*16] -- Oh, my God. Did the man not read the job description before applying for the position? What a putz . . . what the hell is he going to do if things actually hit the fan? Things aren't good now, but they could get a LOT worse. If he can't handle it, he needs to get out now and let somebody else mop up his mess.
Tense Meetings, Stalled Talks Led to ‘Painful’ Last-Minute Deal on Budget [*17] -- In which you learn, definitively, that preserving federal funding for abortion clinics is more important to Democrats than keeping open national parks and getting paychecks to serving military. That's the bottom line, and it isn't spinnable. We now clearly understand the priorities of the Democratic Party, and those priorities do not include seeing to the interests of all of the American people--only certain, favored special interests. And they're willing to do anything--absolutely anything--to protect those interests.
While these Republicans are doing a victory lap and praising Boehner, and dumping on conservatives for not partying with them, the smart Democrats are plotting. They're purposely framing this deal the same way as Ms. Rubin, et al --as a win for the GOP and Boehner. They're agreeing that these are big cuts when they're not. Why? Because Obama's about to propose his own budget and deficit package and he'll attempt to outmaneuver our celebrants. He will raise hundreds of billions in taxes (on "the rich" of course); he will slash defense spending; he will play with the numbers and claim to be cutting other areas; he'll put out phony numbers on Obamacare again claiming it will save hundreds of billions; he'll come up with more smoke and mirrors pretending to reform Medicare and Medicaid, and he will attempt to obscure the Ryan Plan, insisting his approach is reasonable, serious, and fair. Meanwhile, Obama will be fighting to protect trillions in spending while the GOP is proudly touting its $38.5 billion (if that) victory.
It is quite true. You can't trust a Washington Democrat as far as you can throw him. (Or her. Mustn't be sexist.) The Democrat Party is one big collection of mutually supporting special interests. They have by their behavior demonstrated zero interest in the country as a whole. Zero.
The Tea Party's First Victory: Obama opposes spending cuts right up to the time he calls them historic. [*19] -- I used to think Obama was a doctrinare leftist, even a Marxist. Now I'm not so sure--I wonder if he doesn't just imprint like a newly hatched duckling on the ideas of whoever in the room seems to have the strongest persona--in the case of the shutdown pseudo-drama: Speaker Boehner and. especially, Paul Ryan.
Democrats will yield on everything but abortion [*23] -- To be honest, I'm not completely happy with that but if the choice is inevitable national bankruptcy or back-burnering the abortion issue, I'll gladly go for the latter--because to be honest, that will kill fewer people in the long run. Too utilitarian? Too cold? Too harsh? Maybe . . .
The Razor’s Edge [*31] -- California: the shape of things to come. Are you paying attention? It will not be pretty. Or comfortable--at least, it won't be comfortable for anyone who isn't part of the ruling elite. Will that be you? Almost certainly not. Welcome to the Dark Ages, Serf. You still have time to change things. And I mean really change things, not the touchy-feely-faux-"change" of the 2008 Obama campaign, which turns out was just more of the same 19th Century "Progressive" wishin' and hopin'.
IT'S A DANGEROUS WORLD Responsibility to Protect [*32] -- In case you hadn't heard, "responsibility to protect" is the shiny new rationale for the intervention in Libya. And it's a dangerous, dangerous idea, especially in the hands of organizations controlled by thugs, totalitarians, and "progressives"--like the United Nations, NATO, and the federal government of the United States of America.
THE COLLAPSE OF THE "ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL WARMING" CONJECTURE Climate models go cold [*37] -- or go read the original article (and behold the cogent counterarguments in the comments . . .) Climate models go cold [*38]
Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy [*48] -- "in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions."
Forget space travel: it's just a dream [*69] -- "Everything that can be invented has already been invented."--Quoted in Lemon, et al., Mark (1899). "Punch's Almanack for 1899", Punch (magazine) 116 (17). (from WikiQuote. [*70]