Pigs will always be pigs

Vito Corgine had the temerity to fly the American flag upside down on his own property, so a bunch of police goddamn Nazis trespassed on his property and took stole it. They've since returned it, but who else would like to bet that appropriate criminal charges will not be forthcoming?

The sheriff admitted that the mere act isn't illegal, but "It is illegal to cause a disruption," and supposedly it was making certain people "upset." Really, and just who was "upset"? Congine's boot-licking neighbors who are part of the government system bent on bankrupting him?

Ayn Rand was so right. "There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws." Some people didn't like it, so law enforcement just needs a vague statute to control someone's behavior.

It's actually the pigs and their supporters who are continually defacing the flag and the freedom it represents, not Congine. It doesn't matter that Congine is a veteran. It doesn't even matter that he was protesting; he can do it anytime he wants, for any or no reason at all. It's his land, and the flag is his private property. Period. If anyone was truly so outraged, then they should have, as private individuals, quietly gone to Congine and offered to buy the flag (with their own money, mind you, not the taxpayers' money), with a formal contract forbidding him from just flying another one.

Such an action would be the free market at work: the free exchange of property between private individuals. It would also show just how much they value not seeing someone flying an upside-down American flag. However, I'd lay good money that the true value people would place is zero. It's virtually free for people to be mini-tyrants instead, using government to control their neighbors.

Everyone involved in the theft of Congine's property, from the flag to destroying his would-be business, deserves impalement in a manner similar to what Vlad Tepes did: a high flagpole right into their anuses.

And then a friend sent me this, about the D.C. police chief being upset that drivers can avoid traffic cameras and police checkpoints with iPhones and GPS-utilizing apps. Actually, this is a good thing. The cameras, by definition, aren't at quiet intersections, and God knows that they don't actually do anything to prevent unsafe velocities in the first place. An iPhone with the relevant app, though, can audibly get someone's attention that he needs to slow down. It's doing the same work as the camera, except better because it's preemptive.

As far as sobriety checkpoints, that's a bunch of bull. The app would need a frequently updated data stream, and if driver is drunk enough to be a menace on the road, odds are he won't be too coherent and using his phone.

All this proves is that the pigs' motive is purely revenue. "Safety" can take a back seat.

True stories from my father: second of a series

I'm so sick of everything happening in Washington and Albany that for weeks I've lost nearly all inclination to blog about any economics or politics. Also, blogging is and should take a back seat to the warmer weather and longer days that my wife and I have been enjoying. So with a little indulgence, I'll be post some stories my father told me, as I started last night.

About half of my father's two decades in the Philippines was under the Marcoses' martial law. Among the takeover of utilities and mass media, there was a ban on public demonstrations and a strict curfew of 11 p.m.

One night, my parents stayed a while at whatever posh restaurant, believing they could still make it home. It was too late, as it turned out, for they were stopped by a few soldiers, not just police. Regular Filipinos would have been arrested, and my mother was still a Philippine national then. However, I suppose that in deference to my father's American citizenship, they'd have been accorded the same treatment: overnight detention until the American embassy opened and secured their release. But one never knew with these patrols, and just the sight and clicking sounds of the automatic weapons was nearly giving my poor mother a heart attack.

My father thought very quickly and said, "Wait, let me show you who I am." He pulled out his wallet and produced an official ID card with "Colonel" emblazoned in Old English font. He was in the Army during World War II, but the highest rank he attained was Warrant Officer Junior Grade. So what was this card? Well, it wasn't a fake: when he lived in Louisville for a time, one friend happened to be friends with a state legislator, and so my father received an honorary commission as a Kentucky colonel. The certificate was lost over the years, but my father kept the small card in his wallet. I still have it.

I don't know how good a poker player the old man was, but this bluff worked. The lead soldier stepped back with a crisp salute. "You're free to go, sir!"

This is a true story.

True stories from my father: the first of a series

I posted this over at Cafe Hayek in a thread on a wartime propaganda extolling government rationing:

My father was stationed at the end of the war at an base in Massachusetts. I don't know which one, but it served what was then called the Army Air Force, and it was used to house German POWs. The POWs were used for various work, including serving meals to American officers. One reward for kitchen duty was eating any leftovers.

My father, a warrant officer, observed one of "the dirty krauts" open a can of pineapple, dump it on a plate, and proceed to eat it all by himself. To us today, that's no big deal, but keep in mind back then that such tropical fruit was very hard to get! And here was the enemy, enjoying what was a mostly unattainable luxury for Americans (unless you were wealthy enough to get some on the black market).

I should add, this wasn't an already-opened can left over from the officers' meal. This was brand new!

I'm reinforced in my desire to change engine oil myself

Changing the oil on your own car is something I don't think everyone should do, but it's good to know how (and how internal combustion engines work). My mother's late model Corolla was due, but I detest oil rigs and wasn't about to take it to one for her. As I mentioned a few years back, I like to do it myself, and I've always done it on my own car ever since these idiots so overtightened the drain plug and nearly stripped the threads!

Then there's the question of trust. I'm actually not sure of the last time the oil and filter were genuinely changed on my mother's car. For all we know, they've just been draining the oil and leaving the same filter. It's no mere stereotype that mechanics try to rip people off, and they can see an elderly woman like my mother coming from a mile away. Unfortunately I don't have the time to bring her car to a shop for her, which has cost her. When the car had only 34,000 miles, some scammer said she needed new brake pads and rotors. Her brake pads seemed fine to me, let alone the rotors, but what the hell did she know? So she ok'd the job and in the end paid $700.

Moreover, this last oil filter, a TVI brand, put on is a piece of junk. A "cap" filter wrench, the kind that fits over the edge of the filter and hooks onto a 3/8" ratchet, just kept slipping on the smooth painted end. The flattened parts were still too rounded. Ordinarily that's not a problem; I'll just get what I consider a "true" filter wrench, except that some Toyota designer was drunk on sake and designed a tight space with no way to turn a wrench! Even with the swiveling handle at 90 degrees, I had no room to turn it such that it could grip onto the filter. There could be room if I removed the oil pan, but what a job just for an oil change.

Maybe it's no coincidence that, frustrated, I came inside to rest for a minute and saw that my wife was watching mass on the Filipino cable channel. The priest was saying something about the Lord pouring grace or whatever, and I said, "Well maybe the Lord can do something about this filter!" After some water, I went back outside to think of what I could do. I've been known in my family since I was little for ingenuity in jury-rigging or otherwise doing things with limited materials and tools, and this time was actually easy. "Oh what the hell." I started hammering the cap wrench onto the filter, uttering a steady stream of curses, and miracle of miracles, that did it. It wasn't perfectly tight, and I had to hammer it back on several times, but each time I could get several degrees of turn on the filter.

"Maker of quality parts" is printed on the side. What a joke.

So I got the little bastard off, and the rest was straightforward. At least now the job is done, I know it was done, and it was done right. Props go out to Craftsman, maker of awesome tools like this ratcheting wrench set. Sometimes you can find them on sale for half price. When I first saw them, my frugal wife initially thought I'd be buying the equivalent of toys, but they've more than earned themselves, including today. Memo to self: 14mm next time.

Props also to Fram's oil filter designers, who have the sense to put rough grips on the end.

Finally, to whoever made the starting-to-rust two-ton jack that's served me so well.

Life is fleeting

Christian Albin, executive chef of The Four Seasons, passed away earlier this month, only five days after being diagnosed with cancer. Tonight, we were just told that one of my wife's uncles, whom we visited a couple of years ago, suddenly died. I only met him that one time and wish I had gotten to know him better. He was a gracious and generous host and seemed like a good man.

In his last days, if not last hours, is a good friend of my family. He was only recently diagnosed with cancer himself. He received his brother, who came halfway around the world to pay final respects, but he doesn't want us to visit. His wish is that we stay away so we'll remember him as strong and hale, and we will respect that. He will be missed greatly.

He moved to the United States from the Philippines quite a few years ago, when the Marcoses was in power. Our friend lived in one of his wealthy family's mansions, one that Ferdinand and Imelda happened to notice and desire for a retreat. They arranged for a visa and one-way airfare to New York, and told him to get out of the country "or else."

Another MSM lie: "Stocks end mostly higher after Fed assessment"

As I've pointed out before, the mainstream media spins any economic news as the end of the world while a Republican is in the White House, and it glosses over bad economic news or rewrites it as "Not too bad" once a Democrat takes over.

Today's headline "Stocks end mostly higher after Fed assessment" is so utterly dishonest, as is customary with anything from the MSM. If this had been several months ago, the headline would have read something like, "Stocks lose rally steam after Fed announcement." Let's take a look at what really happened:







The plain and simple fact is that once the Fed made its announcements, stocks dipped. The only reason the NASDAQ and S&P 500 ended higher than their opening is because, unlike the DJIA, they didn't dip enough to erase the gains from earlier. They didn't crash, but the NASDAQ and S&P 500 indices closed at around 1% from today's peaks, and the DJIA closed nearly 1.5% off its peak.

Despite all this, the meaningful indicators are of movements in U.S. bond markets. For example:



This tells you something. The Fed released a statement today at 2:15:

The prices of energy and other commodities have risen of late. However, substantial resource slack is likely to dampen cost pressures, and the Committee expects that inflation will remain subdued for some time.

Investors overall clearly didn't believe that, evidenced by the sudden afternoon spike in the 10-year's rate. For months now, I've been pointing out that the Fed is creating money out of thin air to inflate the money supply, which inevitably results in inflation. We're in trouble, but most Americans have no idea what's coming.

Indeed, "prices of energy and other commodities have risen of late." I pointed out three months ago that the Fed's pumping of new dollars into the economy is the reason, the only significant reason, that this is happening.

So much for "the most open and transparent" administration

A White House blog post, January 20th: "Transparency -- President Obama has committed to making his administration the most open and transparent in history, and WhiteHouse.gov will play a major role in delivering on that promise."

The headline yesterday: "Obama blocks list of visitors to White House"

Now why wouldn't they want the public to know who's coming to dinner? Jeremiah Wright? Bill Ayers? This reporter Dedman had better not dig too deeply, or this Chicago-rooted administration will do a Vince Foster and make him just like his name sounds.

Just this once, I wish Islamic terrorists had succeeded

Target: Jimmy Carter. Supposedly. It could just be an attempt by Hamas to look like "good guys" to the ignorant.

"Nobody in Gaza will touch this man [Carter]," Hamas adviser Ahmed Yousef said. "He is on a noble mission. Everyone here respects him."

That there speaks volumes.

But like the exchange in "A Few Good Men" where Kaffee asked Jessup why the transfer was necessary if he'd given an order, if nobody in Gaza would touch Carter, then where did the bomb come from?

Who doesn't love a good stimulus, other than John Q. Taxpayer?

Two hundred million dollars to "create" 500 jobs. But what's $400K per job when we can all feel good about it? John Q. Taxpayer's feelings don't count, though.

Think about it. If this were a loan, then if each job generated $40K of economic activity annually, it would take only 10 years for this cockamamie idea to break even. Think of what the $200 million could do to create real work, not dream jobs for ultra-rich and their lackeys who use the power of government to redirect money their way. I have no problem with the mere fact of people amassing and keeping wealth, but I do have a problem with them forcing me into it (the force being the government spending). I never invested in this project and probably would never want to, and by definition, whatever is left of a "market" in this country also didn't want in.

The truly tragic part is what I've been pointing out, that all this "stimulus" spending isn't being funded by taxpayer dollars, or even by true borrowing of money that already exists. The Federal Reserve keeps creating new dollars out of thin air for the federal government to borrow. In the end, this spaceport will be paid for by everyone, the "inflation tax": the value of our dollars will decrease, but the ones mostly hurt are those of us who save for the future. Inflation has a lesser impact on those who spend their earnings quickly.

A new Chinatown counterfeiting crackdown?

After some business yesterday in midtown, we went down to Chinatown. We go for fruit, vegetables and baked goods, not counterfeit items. However, it was impossible not to notice that a lot of the, uh, "establishments" on Canal Street have been shut down. There was a crackdown on counterfeiters last year (see here for a picture of that goddamn idiot Bloomberg doing a poor impersonation of Eliot Ness), but the actual counterfeiting area is really much larger. That I ever noticed, the shutdown never affected the "stores" beyond that small area (like west of Centre, especially around Lafayette). Until now.

We hadn't been down there in several months, so I couldn't tell you when, but based on what Cyn in the City reported, I'm guessing it's lasted from this past March. One wall even had a restraining order forbidding that "establishment" form engaging in trademark counterfeiting. I tried not to laugh.

Not that it's stopped the counterfeiting, mind you. It only seems to have shifted the business from one racial group to another; go figure. The sidewalks are filled with plenty of black people hawking fakes, and further west on Canal Street (toward Broadway) are plenty of black-operated storefronts with every imaginable type of knock-off.

Here's a map, courtesy of Google, of the area.

For once, a good court ruling

The headline "California high court says bank doesn't have to pay $1 billion for overdraft fees" is actually incorrect. The court ruling is that Bank of America doesn't have to reimburse the overdraft fees that they charged their customers.

If people's accounts are overdrawn, then the bank is perfectly entitled to charge fees as previously agreed, which usually means the fees are deducted from the next credit to the account. There's absolutely no basis to question this. It doesn't matter that these disabled and/or seniors are "poor": an overdrawn account means that they're using money that doesn't belong to them, and the bank will charge a fee. The money belongs to the other depositors at the bank. The fee is partly to discourage overdrafts, and partly to compensate for the managers' time in reconciling accounts. The bank is entitled to charge that fee based on the agreement the customers voluntarily accepted when opening the accounts. As with all things, if you don't like the conditions, then take your business elsewhere.

This all started become some twit evidently saw new money in his account, which he should have realized was more than what ought to have been. Instead of notifying the bank of a probable error, he was stupid enough to debit more than what he really had. It reminds me of the idiot family that went to an ATM that suddenly started spitting out tens of thousands of dollars. Instead of bagging and returning it, they treated it as having fallen from heaven and started spending it all. But don't be fooled: banks will track down the error, and the family was caught and ordered to pay it back. I can't find an article on that American family, but here's one in England that similarly burned through other depositors' money, and they were properly jailed for it.

It may start with a bank's error, but a bank's error does not force people to act irresponsibly. Some might say this "disabled man" had cause to complain, because the bank charged him a fee after reversing their error. However, he made the serious error: he should have double-checked how much his account should have, rather than treating it like Christmas.

Sotomayor: perfect for the Supreme Court

Blogging's been a little light now that the weather is warmer and daylight hours are longer, but this is a topic I might as well jump into. Ever since her nomination, I've realized something: Sotomayor is perfect for the Supreme Court. Say that just as Abe Vigoda did in "The Godfather": perfect.

But don't misunderstand why I say that. This is the Court that tramples all over private property rights (ask Susan Kelo) and states' rights (ask Angel Raich). So Sotomayor, who thinks your skin color helps make better decisions and ruled on the side of an extortionist, will be a great fit. She'll continue in Souter's best anti-liberty tradition, and she'll be a credit to the Court that tramples all over individuals' rights. Heaven forbid you want to alleviate your cancer pain in a way that harms no one else, or keep and dispose of your own property as you see fit; such things are everyone's business to decide for you.

The simple truth is that Sotomayor is a racist bigot. There's no possible way to spin what she said:

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

So much for blind, impartial justice. Sotomayor can't even be objective when it comes to language! Liberals like her will call someone "wise" when agreeing, and decry someone as "unwise" when disagreeing.

There is one exception. "National origin" can count in that a true American can have one prejudice and one alone, that of advancing toward liberty.

Someone once said, "I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown." Oh, that was also Sotomayor -- in the same speech.

"Fiscal Suicide Ahead" - and you know Krugman didn't write that

It was David Brook's op-ed of a few days ago.

Paul Krugman predicted "A Fiscal Train Wreck" back in 2003. So where are Krugman's criticisms of Obama's proposals, which will hike spending and debt (including quadrupling the worst of any deficits this decade) beyond anything under George W. Bush?

Oh, that's right, Democrats are in control now. Though Krugman had thrown his lot in with Hillary, he still won't say anything against the fundamentally identical nature of Obama's spending orgy -- except maybe, as Don Luskin points out, that Obama isn't being liberal enough.

When liberals want to make things "fair," watch out

It goes without saying that it's unfair for the self-employed to pay taxes on their own health insurance, while businesses get tax breaks. But "unfair" is seen differently by different people. What's truly unfair ends at that comma: that anyone should be coerced into giving up his property involuntarily, for the support of others favored by the government.

Now, what is the Senate Finance Committee looking to do about this "unfairness"? Well, to finance all the new health care proposals, they need to raise hundreds of billions a year in new taxes, and one way is to taxing businesses on what they pay for health insurance. Obama again shows his complete hypocrisy. He's leaning toward this, yet he denounced McCain in last fall's debates, because McCain proposed this but offset by an individual tax credit (i.e. the government invents a convoluted way to charge you less, or take your money and return it to you, so that you feel grateful).

A child might compare this to Morgana, Ali Baba's servant, who saw a mark on their door and so similarly marked all other doors on the street. A thinking, comprehending mind would realize that this is looking at two men, one with both of his legs and another with only one, and that "making it fair" means cutting off one of the first man's legs.

Nothing could better epitomize Harrison Bergeron's world.

Another mainstream media whitewashing

The original headline: "Obama's court pick to be shaped by his experience"

As of right now, Google searches show the headline once existed, but some news sites already sport the rewrite:



This isn't the first time I've caught the MSM rewriting their stuff.

The rewrite is because the original headline, of course, begets the question, what experience? Now, I'm not one to push "experience" as a qualification for someone to wield power over 300 million people. God knows there are some "inexperienced" people who know about true freedom, who'd do better in public office by not wielding the power that other people would. However, I'm showing liberals' hypocrisy by their own standard, because they tout Obama as some super-qualified messiah who will save us. "Community organizer" and all that, remember.

Go Manny, the Pambansang Kamao

The half-hour pre-fight special just started, and we can't wait. I want Pacquiao to flatten the dirty-fighting Hatton. Thank goodness it's being held in Vegas, that Pac had the sense to avoid a fight in England, where the referees have a tendency to let Hatton get away with things.

I'm predicting that Hatton will go down once before a final knockout, whether it's Hatton finding himself on the canvas or surrendering.

Unfortunately I haven't procured any San Miguel lately, but I certainly will for Pac's December fight with Floyd Mayweather, Sr.

Krugman's latest hypocrisy

(The following is adapted from an e-mail I sent to Don Luskin, with a few additions and deletions.)

Coming across Krugman's latest -- the same old hackery -- was unintentional. I rarely read his columns anymore, and certainly not at lunchtime lest they turn me into a bulimic. I have a new tagline for his columns and blog: "Hypocrisy purer than Vermont maple syrup."

The minute he started talking about executives getting paid too much, I knew he'd never, ever mention Robert Rubin. I even Ctrl-F'd to make sure; it's not there.

Of course, Krugman has to create a strawman, and I'd lay odds he knows he did, about bankers' pay being "a reward for their creativity — for financial innovation." This is utter BS. Sandy Weill contributed immensely, unquantifiably to the American economy by running a supercompany that helped people grow their wealth, "creatively" or not. Rubin, on the other hand, took $115 million over a decade so he could direct Citi to increase risk-taking in 2004-2005.

So how many strawmans can he create in the same breath? "Still, you might argue that we have a free-market economy, and it's up to the private sector to decide how much its employees are worth. But this brings me to my second point: Wall Street is no longer, in any real sense, part of the private sector." So Wall Street can't pay people what they're worth because the government stepped in, using force to dictate terms of compensation. Is Krugman unaware of his absurd circular logic here, or was it deliberate because he couldn't otherwise make the argument?

Then as if to demonstrate his utter cluelessness, he writes, "Claims that firms have to pay these salaries to retain their best people aren't plausible: with employment in the financial sector plunging, where are those people going to go?" Unemployment may be high overall, but valuable people always have options. A few months ago, I was being courted by a major private bank. They were excited to find me, because of my experience combined with strong tech skills. It would have been a very senior position -- would have been, because I turned it down. It's not the first time I've been recruited, but this time was tempting: the big role came with total compensation double what I'm currently making. However, I'd rather stay where I am, because asset managers are historically more stable than banks. After a couple of bad quarters, new staff could be the first to be downsized. Most importantly, I'm loyal to my boss, who's become a good friend as well as a mentor. I'm hesitant about working for someone new, someone who I might find I cannot trust. You also never know when you start somewhere and are sabotaged or made to be the fall guy for a boss' mistake.

And I'm not the only one who gets calls from recruiters. My friends at work do, too, and we choose to go or stay depending on what's offered. Then again, we have skills that are in demand, even during a recession, unlike dime-a-dozen types like, oh, a newspaper reporter.

I suppose it's too much to expect that a tenured economics professor would ever understand the nature of competition. He and his Princeton colleagues don't have to worry about "So it's eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may be sacked" and can pretty much do what they want, whereas most of the rest of us actually have to continue producing value to keep our jobs.

You've no true competition from the kid, Susan Boyle

We all know about the human propensity to go ga-ga over children who are far more cute than they are good. I'll never fathom it. Here's a Yahoo blogger thinking the world of some British-Indian kid, who has power and potential but needs work. Instead of following Yahoo's link to advertising-preceded video, go here for the YouTube video.

Good lord, it's far more annoying than anything. The original song is ghetto-sounding enough, but this kid's notes are all over the place. He can't yet be compared to an experienced singer with a matured voice, or to someone who doesn't have to use "ay-ay-ay-ay-ay" to hide an inability to hold a clear note for more than two seconds.

A note to the raghead "Ibrahim" who spammed comments

First, making comments throughout my blog on random posts isn't going to work: it was easy enough to delete your trolling. Want to check?

Second, you're hypocritical enough to praise Charice while insulting Filipina women in the same breath. What's the matter, are all four of your wives beating you up today?

Third, you're another fool impressed by mediocrity. Worse for you, you're impressed by your lack of debating ability that can't even rise up to "mediocrity."

Fourth, I have a very tolerant comment policy, but this is my forum run under my rules. Consider yourself a rude guest who just got thrown out on your ass.

You want to face me anytime in real life, let's do it: but I guarantee I'll be pounding your face into pavement before you can cry to Allah.

That's all for now.

Godspeed, Arnita and Lyle

It's absurd for the AP to put this in the "Odd News" section. This isn't odd, it's beautiful.

Kansas couple married for 67 years die hours apart

TROY, Kan. – Residents of a northeast Kansas town are mourning the deaths just hours apart of an elderly couple who were married 67 years. Arnita Yingling died in her sleep early Saturday at the family's home in Troy. She was 93. Six hours later her 95-year-old husband, Lyle, died at a nursing home in the nearby town of Wathena.

At their funeral Wednesday, friends and relatives described the two as inseparable. Some found comfort knowing neither would have to live without the other.

The Yinglings were married in 1941. Both were born on northeast Kansas farms and were active in Troy as members of their church and civic organizations.

That's real love. It reminds me of an elderly couple I once saw, eating lunch at the deli I usually go to for lunch. The wife was in a wheelchair, and too frail to take care of herself: her husband had to bring each spoonful of soup right up to her lips. That was as great devotion as I've ever seen.

Is it too much to ask that reporters actually know what they write about?

Among the least of their sins, but demonstrative of one of the big problems with professional journalism:

British spy agency searches for real-life `Q'

LONDON – He was James Bond's go-to guy for inventions that included dagger-embedded shoes, radioactive lint and a deadly sofa that swallowed people. Now, Britain's domestic spy agency — MI5 — is hunting for its very own "Q," of sorts.

IKs this moron "Paisley Dodds" the only person in the West who didn't see "From Russia with Love"? The "dagger shoe" was Rosa Klebb's weapon not Bond's.