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June 29, 2007 by mr_flood.
Please head over to his site and read his latest on socialism killing pharmaceutical invention, with the left wanting to do the same here. An excerpt:
Socialism fails. Always has. Always will. And the toll in Europe in so many areas is clear. Here’s what socialized medical systems have done to European pharmaceutical research:
# For over 100 years, Europe has been a powerhouse of pharmaceutical progress and innovation. Over the last decade, however, Europe has gradually lost its leadership in the pharmaceutical sector, with a steady transfer of its R&D to the US - where policies and market conditions are more favourable to pharmaceutical innovation.
# Key benchmarking indicators show that between 1990 and 2002, R&D investment in United States rose more than fivefold, while in Europe it only grew 2.5 times.
# In 1990, major European research-based companies spent 73% of their worldwide R&D expenditure on the EU territory. In 1999, they spent only 59% on the EU territory. The USA was the main beneficiary of this transfer of R&D activity.
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June 22, 2007 by mr_flood.
…which, I suppose, is representative of the Left as a whole.
In The Plank he writes…
But other parts of the article were more personally unflattering. For instance, Kuttner cited Rubin’s “professed concern for America’s downtrodden,” [italics mine] which strikes me as highly uncharitable.
followed by…
But I think it’s worth noting that Rubin, who is enormously rich, has staunchly favored higher tax rates on the rich for years.
I remember listening to an interview with the singer Jewel a few years ago where she professed the exact same belief; that endorsing high tax rates means you care for the poor.
Well, I have two things to say about people who believe this: you don’t care and you’re stupid.
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June 20, 2007 by mr_flood.
From M.J. Rosenberg at TPM Cafe we get an article decrying Richard Cohen’s belief that Libby should be pardoned because there was no underlying crime.
His main point is that since there was “no underlying crime,” lying to the grand jury about it was no crime either.
What’s funny is that Rosenberg goes on to reinforce exactly what Cohen was saying.
No underlying crime!
Scooter Libby was a key part of a group of government officials who lied this country into a war that has cost us 3500 soldiers and destroyed a foreign country.
It is a war we have lost and which we will be paying for decades hence.
Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people will never get over the losses they suffered as a result of Scooter (and his buddies’ war). It is sad that Scooter is, at this point, the only one facing jail time. Feith, Perle and the whole bunch should be brought up on charges.
So let me get this right. He disagrees with Cohen’s position that there was no underlying crime to commit perjury on and as his evidence he doesn’t cite any evidence. Rather, he spews BDS vomit all over the place.
I’m sure he’d agree with the statement that Clinton’s impeachment was just, not because he lied to a grand jury, but because he bombed an aspirin factory in Sudan.
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April 16, 2007 by mr_flood.
Is here at Protein Wisdom
From the Kansas City Star’s Jason Whitlock, “Imus isn’t the real bad guy”:
Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.
You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.
You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.
Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.
Please read the rest.
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April 3, 2007 by mr_flood.
****bad language in here****
From a recent post at Protein Wisdom
So, to recap: chocolate Jesus giblets and stallion fucking = edgy, arty, and worthy of “thought experiments” that attempt to “revive the humanity” of their subjects; whereas “under God” in the Pledge = intrusive, while cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed? How dare you question the Otherness of the Other?
What more can be said over what Jeff says in his post?
I suppose I can add that no one has noticed how juvenile it all is. Here they are, grown up, so many years serperated from their parents, from the ’50’s, from any connection to religion at all and still they take so much pleasure, and devote so much effort, in being perceived as a rebel to all they’ve left behind. Look! Look at me everyone! I’m sticking it to Jesus and his whacko followers! How brave I am!
No, you’re just tired.
And old.
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April 2, 2007 by mr_flood.
In today’s Times we get an article decrying an inequality in the tax code. Capital gains is only taxed at 15% while the highest income tax is over twice that. I agree with the Times at this point, but of course it’s the solution to this inequality that highlights them as socialists
The deeper question in all this is whether capital gains — which are currently taxed at less than half the top rate of ordinary income — should continue to be so lavishly advantaged. The answer there is no. Today’s preferential rate for capital gains is excessive, with no mechanism in the tax code to ensure that it is not overused. Excessively favoring one form of income over another encourages wasteful gamesmanship, creates inequity and crowds out other ways to foster risk-taking. Tackling the too-easy tax terms for private equity is a good way for Congress to begin addressing that bigger issue.
Their solution is to, of course, raise the capital gains tax, why?
In general, when corporate executives get performance-based pay, like stock options, they don’t have to pay tax right away. That’s a big tax benefit, but it leaves the government no worse off because the corporation also delays taking a deduction for the payment. There is no such offset when private equity partners are paid by tax-exempt investors.
That’s right, when the Times discovers an inequality in the tax code it’s first interest is in making sure the government is taken care of. It’s practically the definition of socialist. It’s a mindset that just boggles me. The rights and interests of the people aren’t even a factor. The fact that the government can abscond with the income of it’s citizens, at any rate it chooses, is a violation of our rights of the highest order yet the Times wants to make sure the bureaucracy isn’t shorted.
To the Times I say: Piss off.
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April 2, 2007 by mr_flood.
In another of these studies that finds out what we all already knew or suspected, we turn to The Corner
According to Meyer’s findings, by the age of 12, children believe that earning praise from a teacher is not a sign you did well—it’s actually a sign you lack ability and the teacher thinks you need extra encouragement. And teens, Meyer found, discounted praise to such an extent that they believed it’s a teacher’s criticism—not praise at all—that really conveys a positive belief in a student’s aptitude.
In the opinion of cognitive scientist Daniel T. Willingham, a teacher who praises a child may be unwittingly sending the message that the student reached the limit of his innate ability, while a teacher who criticizes a pupil conveys the message that he can improve his performance even further.
Read the rest.
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March 30, 2007 by mr_flood.
This is where your endlessly increasing taxes go
SEN. Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of MILCON for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum’s ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein.
Remember this when next you’re confronted by someone wishing to raise your taxes in the name of ‘fairness’ or ‘equality’. All that these taxes do is take earned income from the wealthy with no political friends and transfer it to the wealthy with political friends or their bureaucratic underlings.
From The Corner
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March 29, 2007 by mr_flood.
Iran “Let’s mess with Britain”
15 hostages taken
Britain “We condemn this action, let our people go!”
Iran “No”
Britain “We strongly condemn this action, let our people go!”
Iran “No”
Britain “Hmm, maybe we there’s not enough condemnation goin’ on around here, let’s get some more folks condemning”
UN “We condemn this action, now let their people go!”
Iran “No”
UN “We strongly condemn this action, now let their people go!”
Iran “No”
Britain “…”
Britain “Well, that’s all I’ve got”
Iran “lol”
Stay tuned for our next episode where Britain threatens rising tension!
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March 29, 2007 by mr_flood.
Is there no end to the Imperial Federal Government? No end to unabated thievery? No end to indentured servitude?
The House version increases non-defense, non-emergency spending by $22.5 billion for the next fiscal year, with such spending rising 2.4 percent in each of the next three years. To pay for these increases, the resolution raises taxes close to $400 billion over five years — about $100 billion more than what the Senate passed.
The breakdown of the bill on the House floor today (resembling the Senate version) raises taxes an average of $1,795 on 115 million taxpayers in 2011. Some 26 million small-business owners would average $3,960 more in taxes. The decreased number of Americans actually subject to income taxes will all be paying higher taxes, and 5 million low-income Americans will be returned to the rolls.
They take ever increasing sums of our money and shovel it into the gaping maw of federal bureaucracy and the pockets of their political sycophants and it pisses me off. If it doesn’t piss you off you’re an idiot.
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