Wotka World Wide

Friday, July 30, 2010

Police are arresting people trying to take video or photographs of them with increasing frequency, despite the fact that there is no law against doing so. And the media is starting to focus on this story more as well (see this in the WaPo and this from ABCNews) , which will hopefully encourage people to continue pushing this issue with the police until they get the message that they work for us. And the prosecutors enabling this behavior need to get tossed from office pronto, as they are obviously completely ignorant of the laws of our land and contemptuous of the rights of your average citizen to ensure that the police operate in a fair and impartial manner.

Friday, July 23, 2010

So apparently John Kerry is mooring his new multimillion dollar yacht in Rhode Island... to avoid Massachusetts tax on boats and save half a million dollars. Taxes are for the little people, not men who marry their money and consistently vote to raise taxes.
Looks like the clock is ticking for Rep. Charlie Rangel, who will finally face a trial in the House for his ethics violations. Just in time for the November elections. :)

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Pampered populists, from Victor Davis Hanson. Hard to have a class war when you are too busy schmoozing with the upper classes...

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Civil rights and armed self-defense, from Reason, on Justice Thomas's excellent concurring opinion in McDonald v. Chicago. Those continuing to impugn the intellectual vigor of this man (or worse, call him an Uncle Tom) continue to amaze me with their ignorance, both of his body of opinions and history in general.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

What is the Tea Party? A growing state of mind.

Finally, a national article that actually offers an even-handed analysis of this political phenomenon that is influencing political races nationwide. Please read!

Monday, July 05, 2010

Germany is making a concerted effort to restore the vitality of their economy with spending cuts while avoiding tax increases. And they are already seeing positive signs of growth. Meanwhile, the US continues to pursue the Keynesian strategy of increased deficit spending, with no end to our economic problems in sight. Pay attention to the trajectory of these two economies in the coming years to see (yet again) which approach works.

Also further proof that while the US seeks to emulate socialized Europe, the Europeans have realized the folly of this and are moving in the opposite direction towards economic liberalization and smaller government. Now they just need to reign in the bureaucracy of the EU government to really make a major difference.
So now comes news that the health care overhaul will likely mean longer ER wait times, as an estimated 16 million will be joining the Medicaid rolls, and those folks tend to rely on ERs for their medical need. Where was this story before they passed the health care reform bill? More here.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

More on government and BP mismanagement of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

BP and the Obama administration face mounting complaints that they are ignoring foreign offers of equipment and making little use of the fishing boats and volunteers available to help clean up what may now be the biggest spill ever in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Coast Guard said there have been 107 offers of help from 44 nations, ranging from technical advice to skimmer boats and booms. But many of those offers are weeks old, and only a small number have been accepted. The vast majority are still under review, according to a list kept by the State Department.

And in recent days and weeks, for reasons BP has never explained, many fishing boats hired for the cleanup have done a lot of waiting around.

A report prepared by investigators with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., detailed one case in which the Dutch government offered April 30 to provide four oil skimmers that collectively could process more than 6 million gallons of oily water a day. It took seven weeks for the U.S. to approve the offer.

Very depressing stuff. Read the whole thing.
More government bureaucracy at its finest, as the EU looks to ban selling items like eggs by number and instead require them to be sold by weight. More on the madness:

The move could cost retailers millions of pounds because of changes they will have to make to packaging and labelling, as well as the extra burden of weighing each box of food before it is put on sale.

The cost is likely to be passed on to shoppers through higher grocery bills.

Experts say it will be next year before the EU is able to pass the controversial measure, which bureaucrats say is designed to help consumers make an informed choice when buying their food because it will require suppliers to provide more comprehensive information.

But last night, food industry experts said the EU plan was ‘bonkers’ and ‘absolute madness’.