My Take On Recent Elections

There was a lot of predictable spin on the recent elections that follows partisan lines. The race that most interested me was NY-23, where a Democrat ultimately won in a district that had elected Republicans for more than 100 years.

This happened because the Republicans nominated a fairly liberal candidate for US House, and in response, Doug Hoffman ran on the Conservative Party ticket. The liberal Republican dropped out of the race, the Conservative nearly made up the ground, but ultimately lost.

Some are saying that this is proof that a third-party candidacy is folly, and that reform needs to happen within the major parties.

I'll point out again that the GOP leadership nominated the liberal Republican.

The GOP leadership, virtually anywhere, has been so interested in targeting moderate and independent voters that the result is the appearance of not standing for anything at all. That's where they don't get it. There is a morass of wandering disaffected voters looking for a home, that requires a party to stand for something.

Obviously, the fear of third parties in general is keeping these folks in limbo, because the Libertarian Party has ever been for smaller budgets, less spending, less taxes, more economic growth, and higher employment... and this is what the people seem to want. From CNN's polling:

The number of Americans who say the economy is their top issue is on the rise, according to a new national poll.

Forty-seven percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday morning say the economy is the most important issue facing the country today. That's up 6 points from August.

Health care, at 17 percent, remains second on the list. But the issue is down a few points from August, indicating that the furor caused by the late summer town hall meetings may be fading somewhat on the minds of most Americans.

This tells me a lot. There's the Democratic leadership, working hard on something that the public doesn't regard as the top issue. Neither the Bush stimulus nor the Obama stimulus convince the public that their solution is working. Here are the Libertarians, offering a result that the people are clamoring for, yet not reaching the people.

My opinion is that right now, the Libertarian Party needs to become a single-issue party, focused solely on the economy. It isn't just that CNN article that makes me think this way. This has been the top issue for about a year now. The old leadership is discredited. The new leadership is losing people. This is an opportunity for the Libertarians, provided they eliminate distractions.

What say you?

The Predictable World of Baseball

I am not watching the World Series. There is not a shred of interest. Oh? Did the Yankees make it? Now, who woulda thunk it? Big surprise. The Phillies? Knock me over with a feather.

It's hard enough being a sports fan in a country where most of the parks are built on the backs of taxpayers, where millionaires could have built them without being welfare queens. But baseball is a special kind of suck.

It's hard to miss how not competitive Major League Baseball is. Every year, the Red Sox and Yankees are going to compete in the American League. Every Year, the Cardinals, Dodgers, Mets, Braves and Phillies are going to compete in the National League. Mainly, these are the teams willing to spend money on talent.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had 17 straight losing seasons. The Kansas City Royals routinely see their best players get to the end of their contracts, and leave via free agency.

Don't get me wrong- I don't bemoan the players their ability to sign for the highest bidder. The players are the product, after all.

What I don't care for is the fact that most teams will make a profit without even trying to compete for the top-level talent reserved for teams in Boston, New York, or Philadelphia. Why is that? Socialism.

No kidding. If you want to see how the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor in a socialistic microcosm, look at Major League Baseball, which has a revenue sharing program. Michael Lewis, assistant professor of marketing at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, said this in a University article:

"Even though revenue sharing was intended to create incentives for ball clubs to build their teams and build their fan base, it's ended up having the opposite effect," Lewis said. "For small markets, like Kansas City or Tampa Bay, the club fares better in terms of how much revenue it collects, when their team doesn't win and the stadium isn't full."

and

"The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have been notorious for under-investing in their team," Lewis said. "In 2006, they collected $33 million in revenue-share payments and they only filled about 37 percent of the seats in ballpark. Clearly this is a team that has decided to grow the bottom line through revenue-sharing payments rather than grow the fan base.

True, the Rays reached the World Series in 2008, losing to the Phillies, but that was an anomoly. This year? They finished just 6 games over .500. They'll tread similar waters for the next 20 years.

So, there isn't any tension this year. It's maddening besides. I'm a Cleveland Indians fan who gets to see CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee, both Cy Young winners for the Tribe in the past two seasons, now start in Game One of the World Series, for the Yanks and Phils respectively. The Indians just aren't willing to compete at the highest level. They dumped this phenomenal pitching talent for prospects, who they will in turn dump when they become stars themselves.

Why would anyone get emotionally involved with the Cleveland Indians? Or, any other team not in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, St. Louis, or Los Angeles?

I suppose if I were a Yankees or Phillies fan, this would be a lot of fun to watch. I'm not, so I won't. I get to look at enough crony socialism in the world of politics such that I hardly need it in my entertainment.

A Friendly, God-Fearing Bank Robber

This one is bound to make national news. From the Indy Star report:

A robber holding a gun on an Advance America cashier Monday apologized to the woman for his actions, but went ahead with his robbery even after praying with the victim.

"He said that he hated to have to do this, but times were hard and he had no choice," cashier Angela Montez, 43, told police according to a police report.

...

The man told Montez he had a 2-year-old child to support and then asked Montez to pray with him about overcoming his hard ships. The two got down on their knees and prayed, remaining on their knees for nearly 10 minutes, police said.

In response to the woman's kindness, the man took a bullet out of his handgun and gave it to her, according to the report, telling the clerk it was his only bullet and promising not to hurt her. He then asked Montez for a hug.

I have nothing profound to say to this. It strikes me as some weird kind of goofy desperation, the kind of reality that is more bizarre than any creative fiction could be. Dig this:

The man took $20 in $5 bills from the cash drawer, according to the report -- leaving the rest of the cash in the drawer.

Twenty bucks. Astonishing. I'm sure there is political spin waiting to happen. I have nothing.

Dow & Gold At Highs?

Ok, I'm confused. The Dow cracked 10,000 yesterday for the first time in a year, while gold finished today at $1,050/oz, which is just off an all-time high. This doesn't make a lot of sense, with gold so often being strongest when stock markets are at their weakest.

My biggest market fear is that inflation is inevitable, thanks to the rampant printing of valueless money wrought by the stimulus, so in that sense, the gold price makes perfect sense. But the stock market? Why is it so high?

I'm going to have to do my homework on this.

Reason on Whole Foods

Interesting to hear some Whole Foods employees speak, alongside Whole Foods protesters.

Yet Even Still More Smoking Ban for Marion County

It seems like there is endless restlessness by those who wish to use the power of government to force businesses to involuntarily adopt no-smoke policies. From WTHR 13's report:

A City-County Council committee approved a tighter ban in a 4-2 vote. The measure is designed to further reduce health effects of secondhand smoke especially on non-smoking workers at bars and clubs.

...

City Councilor Christine Scales questioned the wisdom of expanding the current restrictions. "Why a total ban? We're talking about serious liberty interests at stake here. Smoking is legal," she said.

I happen to like no-smoke establishments. I choose to patronize them. However, I get hung up on the phrase "the pursuit of happiness". People define that in different ways. For me, playing hockey is one avenue to happiness. For others, it's smoking a cigarette in a bar. I no more want a group of busybodies to outlaw my ability to play hockey on the basis of safety and eliminating risky behavior than smokers or bar owners want this ban. It's the third parties, those who don't even participate in the ownership or behavior, who are driving this law. That makes their efforts very suspect to me. I don't trust little dictators.

The ends of the no-smoke policy is nice, but the means are very important to me. There are the parallels I think of:

I like having a fully staffed military, but I oppose conscription.
I like having top notch health care, but don't think you should be taxed to make it so.

We want the ends. For the means, it is so unnecessary to resort to force, yet it is our nation's first resort anymore. We become less American daily.

So, Who Will Pay?

With the health care debate, the proponents seem to be stuck on a nuance-free, black & white answer: The Rich(tm). After all, they can afford it.

Alas, the reality is that it isn't just the rich. Turns out it could be people working manufacturing jobs, right here in Indiana. From an Indy Star report:

Zimmer Holdings, Biomet and DePuy Orthopaedics are based in Warsaw, along with several smaller companies and suppliers. Together, they generate nearly a third of the estimated $32 billion in global orthopedic device sales.

But the industry, succeeding even as some other U.S. manufacturing sectors are slumping, faces challenges:

A proposal that passed the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday would place as much as $40 billion in new taxes on the medical device industry in the next decade.

As always, the devil's in the details, although, there's devil aplenty in the main argument, as far as I'm concerned. Anyhow, is this what the proponents want? To do something that would stifle the creation of good paying manufacturing jobs?

Also, it may meet the definition of Obama's campaign promise that taxes won't be raised on 95% of individuals, but taxes on corporations end up being taxes on the employees and customers of those corporations. Again, lack of nuance. Black & white. Ham fisted simpleton explanations.

Limbaugh To Own The Rams?

I was amused to see that one former painkiller addict wouldn't support the other. From the AP:

Rush Limbaugh's bid to buy the St. Louis Rams ran into opposition within the NFL on Tuesday. Colts owner Jim Irsay vowed to vote against him

I get the feeling that Indy's conservative football fans must have some large cognitive dissonance buzzing their brains right about now. The Colts are 5-0 and playing some of their best football ever, but the team is the city's welfare queen poster child, with Irsay a billionaire in no small part due to transfers of wealth from the populace to him. Then, the iconic Limbaugh gets a slap in the face from Irsay.

The Left boycotted Whole Foods when its' CEO said things it found insulting. Any chance the right will boycott the Colts?

Before any Limbaugh supporters call it un-American for Irsay to take this stance, just remember that the NFL and its' franchises are a different kind of property than, say, a common piece of real estate. The other owners do have a vote on whether or not to accept any prospective owner or ownership group, and they can discriminate against any prospective buyer, for any reason, no matter how illiberal that might seem.

Rewarding Saturday

I was very happy to deliver a talk to potential Libertarian Party candidates this Saturday, on the subject of beginning the race. Mainly, as the most recent candidate for Secretary of State, my top secondary objective, apart from winning, was to establish four more years of automatic ballot access for LP candidates. These were some of the folks who will take advantage of that ballot access.

Most of what I do in politics has no immediate return. This event was rare in that there was the immediate gratification of meeting and informing these good people, and, in helping to justify that campaign- both at once.

Now, folks: file those papers!!!

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize?

They must just give that thing away to anyone. To give the Peace Prize to the president who has not ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but extended them? The Prize has no value any longer, and what a horrible message: Words matter, actions don't.

Saturn Rings The Bowl

GM announced today that Saturn is being closed down. From an AP report:

General Motors Co. said today that it would shut down its Saturn brand after an agreement with Penske Automotive Group Inc. to acquire it fell apart.

Penske, citing concerns of whether it could continue to supply vehicles after a manufacturing contract with GM ran out, ended talks with GM Wednesday to acquire the brand.

I don't get it. Wasn't the whole point of the GM bailout by the federal government that the plants would stay open? Basically, a big make-work project? This has to be a real kick in the ass to those who worked at Saturn.

I have no love for Saturn. I owned a 1997 SL2 that I actually really did love, being that it was the first car I ever bought new. It was totally reliable until 2006, when I took it to the Saturn of Fishers for an oil change. A mere 600 miles later, the engine blew. The dealer, Saturn of Fishers, wouldn't stand behind it. Nor would Saturn itself. So, I had the damned thing crushed into a cube. Then I bought a Toyota, swearing I would never buy another Saturn or GM product again so long as I lived.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in statement that Saturn and its dealership network will be phased out. Locally, Saturn dealers are in Indianapolis, Fishers and Greenwood.

I don't usually delight in schadenfreude, but in this case, I must confess I did snicker as I drove down 126th Street, past the entrance to the Saturn of Fishers. Good riddance. The market has spoken. Recessions are so very good for weeding out the bad.

I know I was just one customer, just one grain of sand on the beach, but maybe, just maybe, had Saturn treated me a little better, they might have survived. For, if they treated me with such contempt, I'm sure they treated just about everyone else who found themselves at a pivotal moment of showing customer loyalty, or not, like shit.

Souder Begs Of Me?

I was fairly surprised to get a beg letter from Congressman Mark Souder, a Republican representing Indiana's District #3, covering the northeast corner of the state. Surprised, because I live in District #5, in the central part of the state.

The gist of the beg is that Souder is under attack by 'liberals', and that he is a good 'conservative'.

These terms are relative, of course. I consider myself a conservative in that I am to conserve the traditions of the Founders. This is not how most people portray conservatism today, although Souder's letter does site the Founders, so I'll hold him to it.

Souder describes himself as not a 'big spender'. Yet he votes consistently to fund Amtrak, voted to subsidize private health insurance, and votes in favor of farm subsidies- all hallmarks of big spending as far as I can tell. Source.

Mainly, I just don't trust a Republican who voted with George Bush on so many government growing budget items who then turns around and slams the Obama Administration for doing exactly the same things, only at a greater degree. I don't care to shade bad policy in terms of very bad and extremely bad. Bad is bad.

I'd be much happier to see Mark Souder replaced with a Libertarian- a conservative who meets my definitions of the word, conserving the actual principles of the Founders.

Feast / Famine

I haven't posted in several weeks, because the work was overwhelming. A great problem to have, as now illustrated by having almost none.

With some down time, I've decided to go forward with one of the many projects I've put to the back burner for years- selling my record collection.

I think I'm going to start selling piecemeal, beginning with the 7" records. I doubt I'll start anywhere in particular, just start pulling them out of the boxes and listing them on eBay. I think I have around 2,000 or so. Best case scenario is that I end up with about 10-15, those with sentimental value, where the artist thanked me on the sleeve, or like the My Dad Is Dead "Shine" 7", numbered "0001/1500", which I invested in. I'm keeping that one!

If you want something, looking for a particular 7" record from some '77 punk band, or early 90s noise rocker, drop me a line. Just know that I'm selling, and looking to supplement my dwindling income with this. No stimulus checks coming my way, after all. I'm not too big to fail.

I'll post the eBay links when the time comes.

A Useful Way To Think About Health Care Solutions

I was very taken by Harvard economist Greg Mankiw's blog post about institutions and trust. He and I are of a like mind.

In sum, Mankiw asks, If you are more apt to trust government as an institution than free market competitors, AND you don't trust government run by Republicans, why would you put something as important as health care in the hands of the federal government, when historically Republicans run the government about half of the time?

Quotes, from Mankiw's post:

I tend to distrust power unchecked by competition. This makes me particularly suspicious of federal policies that take a strong role in directing private decisions. I am much more willing to have state and local governments exercise power in a variety of ways than for the federal government to undertake similar actions.

...

This philosophical inclination most likely influences my views of the healthcare debate. The more power a centralized government authority asserts, the more worried I am that the power will be misused either purposefully or, more likely, because of some well-intentioned but mistaken social theory. I prefer reforms that set up rules of the game but end up with power over key decisions as decentralized as possible.

I would add that even if the power is given to a well-intentioned and correct social theory, it will become distant, static, and inefficient as a bureaucracy develops and becomes entrenched. Certainly, this is a large complaint about the insurance giants, and they have nothing on the federal government in that department.

We Want To Give Power?

Why am I so opposed to government run health care? Because I'm hard pressed to think of anything important that government does well. For reference, consider our economy.

Yes, the Federal Reserve is a private bank, but it is given power to control our currency by our federal government. Ben Bernanke is the 'Czar' of the Fed. He was wrong about housing, wrong about the poosibility of recession, wrong about the strength of economic fundamentals.



Video courtesy Lew Rockwell. Great article.

This is typical. 'Stimulus' packages don't work, so our federal government does stimulus packages. Inept people run the show. Socialized medicine doesn't work, so of course we are headed that way, and no doubt, some inept clown with be the 'Czar' of health care.

If I had a surgery I was putting off, I'd get it done pronto.

(h/t: Wayne Kirk)

Indy Star Rushes to Irrelevance

Is it just me, or did anyone else notice that trying to view the Indianapolis Star online now requires a password? Go ahead- give it a whirl: http://www.indystar.com/

The management seems hell-bent on making sure nobody reads. If I can't look for free at the Indy Star, no problem, I'll look at other free sites for news. There are plenty of them. The Star doesn't generate enough original content to make it worth my while to subscribe, and besides, they treated my campaign poorly, so I won't subscribe on principle.

I can think of just one or two subscription news websites that make any money. The Star's management has to know this. Maybe they just want to fold at this point.

Enjoy your accelerated trip to oblivion, Indy Star!

Update: Followed up on Todd's comment and found the Star fully accessible once again.

Obama Explains Shrinking American Job Base, Inadvertently

Freudian slip! From a NY Times report:

One evil he came here to fight is the pernicious mix of greed, famine and war that has kept Africa down. He delivered a blunt message that from his predecessors might not have been received the same way. Instead, it was cast by aides as hard truths from a loving cousin.

“No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers,” he said. “No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the port authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.” (emphasis mine).

Physician, heal thyself! Obama's Administration oversees an IRS that punishes American businesses just as he advises against. Does he comprehend anything that crosses his teleprompter?

RIP Billy Mays

Now, here is a celebrity I'll miss. From CNN's report:

The 50-year-old known for his shouting OxiClean ads was pronounced dead at 7:45 a.m. The Hillsborough County medical examiner will perform an autopsy, Tampa police Lt. Brian Dugan said.

Mays was on the US Airways flight from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Tampa on Saturday that had a hard landing at Tampa International Airport when the plane's front tire blew out. There were no reported injuries on Flight 1241, US Airways told CNN.

According to a local Tampa TV station, Mays said: "All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

While always amused by Mays' delivery, I first got some greater insight into the man as one who was at once deadly serious about his business, and yet able to laugh at himself and enjoy the absurdity of it, thanks to Sex Pistol Steve Jones' old radio show, Jonesy's Jukebox. Ever since that show, I absolutely loved hearing Mays' pitches. This is a great bit of fun:

Pathetic

(Charlevoix, MI)- So, we arrived in Charlevoix for Ame's first marathon, and after a long drive dinner was beckoning. TVs were on in the place, and it was all Michael Jackson.

I could care less.

Really- We have a vote on cap & trade coming up, North Korea throwing nuclear rocks at the knees of the United States, Iran is coming unravelled, unemployment is rising and nearing double digits, the US is still in Iraq and Afghanistan... and people are riveted to coverage, 98% Michael Jackson, 2% Farrah Fawcett.

Bread & circuses. We are a very pathetic, very distracted nation and society. Watch this hideous cap & trade be passed while people watch 'news' reports about the pedophile.

Update: I just got a call from Ron Paul's Campaign For Liberty, urging me to contact my Congressman about cap & trade. Thank goodness he's not distracted. I had already contacted Dan Burton's office. I hope you contact your House Rep also.

Craig Coxe Interview Posted

I was happy to see my lengthy interview with ex-NHL player Craig Coxe posted at last on HockeyFights.com. 

The main thing that delayed the posting was the ambition of it. There is so much that could be done with it, because the interview was videotaped by Steve Wainstead. The video of Coxe sharing his stories really brings life to the mere dialogue. More than that, the ability to run Coxe's voice over clips of his fights is an incredible opportunity... but a lot of work. So, at least for now, the transcribed interview is posted. Check it out via this link.

For a look at what is possible for this interview, take a look at this snip from it, where Coxe talks about his scraps with Bennett Wolf, in the AHL:

Now, look at a clip of the scraps themselves:

It would be awesome to edit the clips such that you are watching the fight, and hearing Coxe speak about it.

A lot of potential there. Coxe talked about scraps with Joe Kocur, Dave Brown, John Kordic, Troy Crowder, and Ken Baumgartner, plus the Madison Square Garden incident. For now, I'm extremely pleased to see the interview itself have the light of day. Coxe was a magnificent interview subject.