A few things from last week

If only work didn't always get in the way, I'd be able to post lots more.

From Wednesday's Opinion Journal (I sure love that thing):

A letter to the editor:

"What matters is not campaign rhetoric but policy, and the policies that President Obama would promote are anything but unifying...This call for bipartisanship came after a list of specific policy initiatives, of which I agree with precisely none...Obama can unite the American electorate if we all go along with the ideas of the most liberal senator in Congress, but this is not about unity -- it's about ending debate."

Like a lot of others, I've never bought the unifying argument. Its easy to say it, but when it actually comes to unifying such a diverse group of people as the USofA, following through, he'll find, is more difficult. There are, however, a few examples of very unified peoples throughout history. Interestingly, several of them occurred during the 30's and were result of strong-arming by leadership: Germany, USSR, Italy, and, unfortunately, America. Things weren't great for those countries during those times. Government stepped in at near unprecedented levels and forced people to join them or be crushed. I see no other way Obama can actually achieve unification in the way he describes it.

Obama's 'Patriot' Act:

"Mr. Obama's proposal would designate certain companies as "patriot employers" and favor them over other, presumably not so patriotic, businesses.
The legislation takes four pages to define "patriotic" companies as those that: "pay at least 60 percent of each employee's health care premiums"; have a position of "neutrality in employee [union] organizing drives"; "maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in the United States relative to the number of full-time workers outside of the United States"; pay a salary to each employee "not less than an amount equal to the federal poverty level"; and provide a pension plan...

Under Mr. Obama's plan, "patriot employers" qualify for a 1% tax credit on their profits. To finance this tax break, American companies with subsidiaries abroad would have to pay the U.S. corporate tax on profits earned abroad, rather than the corporate tax of the host country where they are earned. Since the U.S. corporate tax rate is 35%, while most of the world has a lower rate, this amounts to a big tax increase on earnings owned abroad."

This stuff drives me nuts. Who does this serve? Labor. That's all. But only in a misunderstood way. Expected profits drive investment; investment drives job creation. Without expected profits, we can expect no investment and without investment, we can expect no job creation. Its stupid.

Let Houses Find a Bottom:

"As piles of money shoveled out in the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina showed, even with untold trillions of dollars in unfunded entitlement liability hanging over the federal government, there is little resistance to contracting vast new liabilities whenever large numbers of voters are in distress, even if (as now) their own choices played a role."

'Nuff said.

From Thursday.

William F. Buckley died on Wednesday. I must admit I didn't have a clue who he was, much less how influential he was. I read several articles aboue him from all kinds of sources, too many to try to remember now where they were and which I liked best. I'll just say that the modern conservative movement owes a great debt to him.

Hillary's Close-Up:

"This common script [health care, public schools, green energy, etc] means that the Democratic primaries are largely an audition. The candidates are reading for a role. The lines are known.
The part, however, is challenging. The Democratic platform may be familiar, but it is also infused with the quality of a dream. Actually, the word "dream" gets used a lot in Democratic rhetoric. What are essentially bureaucratic arrangements, such as health insurance or after-school programs, are promised as "universal." Meanwhile, "the middle class" is being offered a version of never-never land -- total public protection from the traps and betrayals of the private sector, which has been reduced to a kind of Grimm's Fairy Tale abstraction, the wolves.
If you are selling a dream you need the best possible salesman to make it seem somehow possible. They found him in Barack Obama."

I like it. Should conservatives care who McCain's opponent is in November? We shouldn't. Whoever it is will have a record and policy stance so far to the left of McCain we can hardly see them. They know this, so they've chosen someone who has the best chance of picking off a few of those more easily persuaded.

Baseball's 'Hallowed' Records:

I hadn't been able to understand exactly why Congress is getting involved. He did.

"Still, the outrage over performance-enhancing drugs in baseball is somewhat misdirected. It's not ultimately about players' health or the influence that using performance-enhancing drugs might have on young people. We've turned a blind eye toward that for years. And we don't speak out with that type of passion about smoking, drinking or eating red meat.
And despite what baseball wants us to believe, it isn't about cheating either. Gaylord Perry, notorious for his spitball, is still revered, as is the legendary Ty Cobb, he of the sharpened cleats, by baseball historians and aficionados. And more people would likely open Baseball's Hall of Fame to Pete Rose than would shut him out.
This goose chase is about something else altogether. This is all about the records."

This is what would happend if Congress decided to do nothing. IF the fans care about what's going on with PED's, then they will stay away from the ballpark. Less revenue will prompt the owners, players, etc to take steps to do something. Either they'll fix it and people will come back or they won't. Those who have a vested (money) interest, such as the players and owners, will make sure they go far enough to keep the league from folding. IF the fans don't care, they'll keep coming to games and all is well, and Congress would have gotten their undies in a wad for nothing.

I know there was more out there of late, but this will do. I'll touch on all of the Nafta bashing later.