May 11, 2008
Man Jailed After Adult Daughter Fails To Get GED
Judge David Niehaus, of Butler County, Ohio, has sentenced Brian Gegner to six months in jail because his 18-year-old daughter failed to pass the math portion of her GED test.
The article says the state may let him see his daughter and granddaughter again once his daughter passes the state's math test. Of course, he'll likely be jobless by then...
(Thanks to Spencer Hahn for the link.)
What Ron Paul Did
One of a multitude, a man writes: "I had never heard of the Mises Institute or Austrian Economics until I heard of Ron Paul. Now I read everything I can on your site, and rent books from the library from Rothbard to Mises. I just wanted to just say GOOD JOB!"
Sustaining a Workforce
I came across a blog entry on Wired that laments the Presidential candidates' lack of dedication to the space program. Her blog entry, as well as the original NPR story, point out the main problem with not funding NASA:
It is time for the United States to get... a space program powerful enough that kids are demanding an education to support their dream of using space to make a difference here on Earth.
It amazes me that people actually think that the federal government is, and should be, responsible for maintaining a given workforce. If there is demand for a certain product that requires space exploration, the market will provide the jobs. If no such demand exists, it's better for everyone if would-be astronauts are employed in some other occupation.
(Note the "conflict of interest" by the blogger - she has spent 12 years in said workforce. But this is presented as expertise, not conflict of interest, because it is a government gig.)
"Lincoln Turned My Ancestors into Welfare Bums"
I recently received a very thoughtful letter from Kerry P., who wrote after reading The Real Lincoln.
"What drew my very personal attention in your book were your comments about General Sherman and Grenville Dodge [chief engineer of the government-subsidized transcontinental railroads). I know both very well . . . because my grandfather was the General Counsel for the Union Pacific from the 1950s-1971."
"My grandfather was a very good man, and we loved him. He was a Swedish-American and quite aware of he fact and behaved very much like Scandanavians still behave -- I mean older gentlemen -- mild-mannered and wore a suit to breakfast. His grandfather had come from Sweden in 1852, and only 8 years later, in 1861 at the age of 18, joined the Union Army . . . . He along with the whole regiment [the 3rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, all Swedish immigrants] was captured by Nathan Bedford Forrest. They were fortunately parolled, and unfortunately for the Sioux, sent to fight the Sioux uprising with Gen. Pope."
"As to how a foreign 18 year old knew enough about American government and its institutions to go and join the army, is something to wonder about . . . . But I have to say that [my grandfather and great grandfather]both profited very much from this new Lincolnian subsidized industry and the land grants."
"That Union volunteer became a politician himself, a Republican one, and so did his grandson. That guaranteed Republican votes in my family for 135 years! Should we forget that an entire state [Nebraska], and undoubtedly numerous of its monied people, politicians, lawyers, etc., felt so indebted to him as to name the capital city of the state, "Lincoln"? If that is not a propagandizing vote-getter then I don't know what is."
"Would either of them have gone into politics, or worked for the Union Pacific RR if not for Lincoln? . . . . My great-great Grandfather went on to make numerous claims for pensions -- the U.S. government has the records and I have read them. He was not seriously injured in the war and one cannot help but feel that the claims that he made . . . were superfluous . . . . The feeling I get looking at those records is the same feeling I have when I hear about the 100-300,000 Gulf War vets who claim Gulf War syndrom and who must be getting something or else they would not be making the claims. It is tempting, because I myself m a Gulf War vet, and undoubtedly the same pension granting also got a lot of those Union soldiers. It is there, why not take . . . there being in many cases no real moral claim to the money."
Republican Doubts About Captain McCain
Especially, of course, among the anti-McCain Ron Paul activists.
Says AFP: "While John McCain is practically assured the Republican presidential nomination, many party members are having a hard time accepting him -- and showing it with symbolic votes against him in primary contests.
"The Republican nomination battle has been all but decided for over two months. Still, some Republicans used the April 22 Pennsylvania primary and last week's votes in Indiana and North Carolina to register their unhappiness with the de facto victor.
"Some vote for libertarian Texan Ron Paul, who has refused to quit the race and has racked up more than one million votes, according to his campaign." Read the rest.
I Love Slate TV
See the latest video on attack ads; it reminds me of why I loved George McGovern.
Why the Campaign Against the Burmese Junta?
So the US empire can once again use a humanitarian crisis to take over another country, of course. (Thanks to Sean Corrigan.)
An Opinion Revolution?
Philip Weiss, long the prophet of a coming change in Amerian opinion on the Middle East, notes some shocking news.
Jim Webb for Veep?
A friend long ago predicted that he would be the key to a Hillary victory against the McCainiac. But he works for Obama too, though he is only #7 on the London Times list.
The Wrestler Kane Writes David Gordon
"Hi, David. Just thought you'd like to know that you'll be spending some time with me on the road over the next couple weeks. I downloaded your History of Political Philosophy seminar from mises.org. Looking foward to listening."
'Oh, the Roman Was a Rogue'
Lay of Ancient Rome
Oh, the Roman was a rogue,
He erat was, you bettum;
He ran his automobilis
And smoked his cigarettum;
He wore a diamond studibus
And elegant cravattum,
A maxima cum laude shirt,
And a stylish hattum!He loved the luscious hic-haec-hoc,
And bet on games and equi;
At times he won, at others, though,
He got it in the necqui;
He winked (quo usque tandem?)
At puellas on the Forum,
And sometimes even made
Those goo-goo oculorum!
(Read the rest by Thomas Ybarra)
Hans-Hermann Bush
George W. Bush is heroic and great, when Hans-Hermann Hoppe speaks through him, on The Rules. (Thanks to Niels van der Linden.)
The Real Mother's Day
Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the vicious hymn to Mars called the Battle Hymn of the Republic, saw the results of Lincoln's war, and founded Mother's Day for international peace. Here is her great 1870 proclamation:
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Thanks so much to Lewis Ballard for reminding me of this.
'If Only the UAW Would Allow It...'
This is a fascinating look at Camacari - one of the most advanced auto assembly plants in the world. Its system of supplier integration makes it perhaps the "leanest" plant in the world. Why will there never be any plants like this in the US? Because union thugs run Ford's business in the US and they will never allow such a thing to happen.
As in the United States, assembly workers make more than those employed by suppliers, and the union is eager to ensure that work reserved for the higher paid Ford employees is not being done by lower wage supplier staff.
Labor expert Harley Shaiken of the University of California, Berkeley, said similar concerns are one reason why the Camaçari model is unlikely to be duplicated in the United States. He said the UAW has relaxed work rules at many Ford factories to allow workers to do more than one job, and has even allowed experiments with limited supplier integration.
But he said the UAW is concerned that giving too much on these fronts will just allow the companies to speed up production and transfer more and more work to lower-paid supplier employees.
