Archives for 2011

Periodically, I argue with a lawyer friend of mine about application of the death penalty. He’s argued before the U.S. Supreme Court before, so I can’t pretend I've won our debate. I grudgingly concede we have reached an impasse. He contends the death penalty is too expensive to enforce and the punishment doesn’t deter future criminals. Au contraire, I reply. It certainly deters the criminal in question from committing future murders. Because he’s my friend, I can’t bring myself to tell him to his face the real problem with the death penalty are the hacks in his profession, making ridiculous arguments that waste the court's time and taxpayer money. Instead, I’ll publish this piece behind his back and wait like a coward for him to read my blog. You've been served notice, my friend, and we both know who you are. Here's an example that illustrates my better argument. Lawyers working on a current death penalty case have put forth a novel argument to defend their client. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that attorneys for a prisoner on Death Row are in court arguing about the safety of drugs used to execute their client. We're seriously asked to care whether or not a prisoner in the process of execution experiences any pain whatsoever? You’re worried about the safety involved with the manner of his death? Does this strike anyone else as unbelievably ridiculous? Your brothers of the bar are asking a judge from the same system that decreed it humane forcing death by starvation and dehydration for Terri Schiavo (who was innocent of … [Read more...]

Stephen Colbert is host of The Colbert Report, seen on The Comedy Channel. Colbert is a funny guy. His show satirizes conservatism as the liberal Colbert portrays a fake conservative. For whatever reason, people of otherwise normal to above-average intelligence frequently behave as if they mistake his show for a serious news report. It seems that some very bright people can be easily confused. Here's an example of what I mean. Grover Norquist leads Americans for Tax Reform, a group that solicits politicians to sign a written pledge not to raise taxes under any circumstances. Norquist signed his own pledge, of course. The following is a transcript of a brief exchange between the two men on the show. Colbert: I’m going to ask you a trick question. Norquist: Sure. Colbert: I hope you have the right answer. Is there any time and any circumstance under which raising taxes is the right thing to do? Norquist: No. Colbert: Good answer. Okay, now let’s amp it up a little bit. Terrorists have kidnapped all of our grandmothers. (Audience laughter.) They’re being kept in a subterranean burrow – which you know they have – (cut to smiling Norquist, going along with the joke) and all of the grandmothers have been slathered with honey. And they will release fire ants into this burrow to bite our grandmothers to death. (More audience laughter.) Their only demand is that we increase the marginal tax rate on the top 2 percent of Americans, and we will release them. Do we raise the tax rate or do we let our grandmothers die by ant bite? (Loud audience … [Read more...]

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt has a lot of nerve. While he leads the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, at the same time GE competes with an unfair advantage over its competitors. His company received billions in stimulus money to subsidize green energy and TARP money because GE Capital was treated as a "lender". While GE plans to cut jobs, Immelt recently delivered a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, lambasting fellow corporate CEOs for failing to hire. Meanwhile, Immelt's compensation doubled to $15 million dollars last year. No wonder he could afford to yuk it up (Immelt is to Obama's immediate right) when the president joked about "shovel ready" jobs funded by the stimulus, saying it turned out they were not shovel ready after all. Then where in the hell did our tax dollars go? … [Read more...]

The election cycle is in full swing. It's time to trash the opponent with inflammatory rhetoric. No one would suggest Newt Gingrich was trying to be kind calling Obama the "most successful food stamp President in American history." But hey, if the shoe fits... It also sounded harsh when Sarah Palin told us that Democrats want "death panels" for senior citizens as part of Obamacare. Democrats prefer the more pleasant euphemism "end of life" planning. Several Republican presidential contenders have made the misleading claim that Obamacare cuts $500 billion from Medicare spending.  It's a repackaged version of the school lunch program lie -- it's reductions to future spending, not necessary cuts to current spending. Nobody has the guts to do that. The biggest problem I have with the Democrat argument for Obamacare is that it is based on a fallacious assertion -- that people will die unless the government offers health insurance. You're going to die with or without health insurance. Medicine might extend your life, but only for a relatively short while (in the big scheme of things). It's a foregone conclusion you're going to die.   Not a question of "if" but "when." You don't have to lie about Obamacare. Tell the truth. It's an unprecedented, egregious assault on personal freedom. Nudge, nudge, say no more. Don't worry; Democrats know how to fight back and they're more than unfair. They demagogue Republicans as wanting to starve children (by not buying them school lunch) or kill Grandma by cuts to Medicare (going so far to produce an ad … [Read more...]

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that activists staged a violent protest during a recent concert by U2 in Glastonbury, England. Security personnel at the show forcibly deflated a large balloon labeled "U Pay Your Tax 2" foisted by the protestors calling themselves Art Uncut. U2 fan Gary Noble expressed shock and dismay at the unpleasant turn of events, saying I love U2 but I think everyone should pay their taxes. The campaigners have a right to voice their opinion Excuse me, but the members of U2 pay taxes -- where they live. If they didn't, they would be in prison. The anti-capitalist members of Art Uncut whined that "while Bono campaigns against poverty in the developing world, his group has avoided paying Irish taxes at a time when his austerity-hit country desperately needs money." The protesters conveniently forgot, but Tom Morgan in the SMH reported, "the members of U2 invested in a wide range of Dublin properties, including a luxury riverside hotel and a planned Norman Foster-designed skyscraper on the River Liffey. Plans for the "U2 Tower" were shelved when property prices collapsed in 2008." The moral of the story is no matter how much tax you pay, how much investment you put back into your native country,  or how much you donate of your time and money to charity, for these leeches it's never enough. Get a job! These socialists are human parasites, wanting to bleed the productive members of society dry. I would not be at all surprised to learn that in the collectivist minds of Art Uncut, the concert should have been … [Read more...]