New York

So I see a rumor that Charles Schumer mr. anti civil rights   himself has a NYC unrestricted gun permit, meaning he is one of 30,000 people out of 8,000,000 and actually about 22,000 of those are retired cops which leaves us with about 8,000 non LEO permit holders.  That 8,000 is primarily the ultra well connected of NYC, people such as Robert DeNiro, Don Imus, Harvey Keitel,Joan Rivers, The Donald and a variety of politicians.  Contrast that with MN that has a shall issue carry permit system as of this month there are 71,000 permit holders out of a population of 5.2 million with the vast majority of them being civilians and that has happened in the just over 5 years MN has had a non discretionary permit system.
This quote from Wikipedia regarding the Sullivan act:   Many believe the act was to discriminate against immigrants in New York, particularly Italians, as the first person arrested under the law was mobster Giuseppe Costabile [1]. Whether this was part of the law’s intent, it was passed on a wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric as a measure to disarm an alleged criminal element. The police granted the licenses, and could easily discriminate against “undesirable” elements. Sponsor “Big Tim” Sullivan reputedly desired the law so that his criminal cohorts could go about their activities unimpeded by citizens defending themselves with concealed handguns. does a fine job of showing what gun control is really about taking gun out of the hands of a feared minority.  Look at the cities and states that have the most draconian gun laws; Washington D.C., Chicago, NYC , California, Massachusetts, Maryland are all winners on the Brady Campaign scorecard all have had large immigrant populations and now have  a large minority population.
In June we will see NYC attempt to defend itself because it is next up on the list.

Health care

It's economics day evidently. I found another good article on why Health Care Reform won't work here at the Fiscal Times ,there is also a blog post here from the comments section that makes some fine points. Then there is this from the CATO Institute. Again government interference in markets distorts said markets.

Cash for Clunkers

  It's been slow at work for the last 8 months but really slow the last two, now February and March are typically kinda slow in the auto repair biz but this is pretty amazingly bad. Yesterday in my ample free time at work it occurred to me that I had forgotten one of the probable contributors to this time of suckage... Cash for Clunkers.
  Anyone who had the cash or credit went out and bought a new car because our federal government subsidized the purchase price and then required said old cars drivetrain be permanently disabled so those cars didn't go back into the market.  So people with the money for repair or maintenance on their "gas guzzler" bought a new car, after all if Uncle Sam wants to help pay for it, why not?
  Well here are a couple reasons 1) New car sales crashed after the program ended putting lots of stress on dealerships and their commission paid salesmen. 2) It depresses the vehicle maintenance market which means a lot of small businesses and their employees are heavily stressed and dipping into their cash reserves. Some shops and techs will die from this drop. 3) It creates a market bubble very similar to the housing bubble there are economic incentives to get people in cars now and worry about whether they can afford them later. 4) It means I need to go get a part time job or start doing side work at home which I hate for a multitude of reasons but pays pretty well as I have little traditional overhead.
  Those of you who don't know an automotive mechanic or technician as we sometimes like to be called are asking what does he care if it's busy or not that just means more time surfing the web or whatever and getting paid, nope to the paid part. See most techs work on what is best called commission meaning I get a piece of every billed hour of labor. Some shops also guarantee their techs a certain base salary, usually an unattractively low number to encourage productivity, but many don't and where I work is one of those, so no work equals itty, bitty, teeny paychecks that don't cover expenses. I'd get a new job but no one is hiring....the market is depressed by a much higher than normal number of new cars on the roads which will need little to no maintenance for the next 100,000 miles.
  It is another example that shows government interference in markets always damages some other portion of said market.

Math is fun

This is interesting  from Walls of the City comes some fun math and statistical goodness. Go read.

Econ 101

From the Gay Patriot comes a really good lesson on economics. I'm leaving it as a embedded link because he has a good website and you should go there and read a bit.
 

Weapons grade snark

From Tam comes some excellent cranky.

Tea anyone?

  There have been a few intriguing pieces on the Tea Party of late here's one. Real Clear Politics had another the other day here and then there is this one from Mr. Instapundit that I like enough to link to again.
   The thing for my non minarchist friends to understand is this irritation at the federal government and profligate spending started before the election, I know it's hard to believe but it's true for me and those other friends of mine that have been protesting.
   Here's a bigger shock I don't care what color president Obama is, I really don't, in fact I was listening to Henry Gates this morning on MPR and was reminded this worry about skin color or ethnicity is from my parents generation, most of the people I know care about the person and his or her actions not the amount of melanin they have in their genes.The thing I care about is that those leaders we elect uphold their oath to the Constitution and abide by it's constrictions.
  News flash I have disliked the increase in federal power and spending since I've been able to vote. I don't care which side proposes it, it doesn't matter if it's Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr. or our current president. I disliked in a bi partisan way the McCain Feingold act. I dislike the Patriot Act I&II. I dislike that the democrats are continuing to  whine about an obstructionist republican minority when they have for the last 13 months had super majorities in both the house and senate as well as a friendly face in the white house. I find Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Barbara Boxer, Frank Lautenberg, Dick Durbin and several others political ideals and aims just as distasteful as president Obama's and they are white and most are male. I'm not a bigot for my disdain of stateism or those who propose it.
  I wrote my congressman and senators in opposition to the bailouts by Bush, I wrote them again asking them to oppose the TARP bailout and Chrysler and GM and health care reform. If they don't listen the only other option is to start going to political rallies and protests and then get involved with one of the political machines and work to change it.   
   I think we as a country have drifted too far towards the kind of political ruling class unbeholden to the people that more and more pushes us in a direction that resembles that of Europe's democratic oligarchies and if I had wanted to live in Europe I would have moved there years ago.

Security theater

The decision could complicate efforts to intensify screening of potential terrorists who are Muslim. 

Transparency

This administration is pushing the edges of state power every chance they get. When your government wants to track you through cell phone info without having to get a warrant the cliff is close. "the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls."
Something not mentioned here but is mentioned in a few other places is your cell phone can also be used as a microphone. I thought when Obama talked about transparency he was talking about government openness, 1984 here we come.

Economic Stimulus

Pretty interesting post from a small business guy on Porkulus II.  H/T to Tam who always finds the cool stuff first. 
Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » Economic Stimulus


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Canadian Healthcare results

CBC News - Nfld. & Labrador - Danny Williams going to U.S. for heart surgery
For those who don't know Mr Williams is the premier of Labrador/ New Newfoundland.

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Hinkle: Talking Down to the Public Will Surely Work . . . | Richmond Times-Dispatch

The snark is strong in this one.
Hinkle: Talking Down to the Public Will Surely Work . . . | Richmond Times-Dispatch

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Something to remember

The founder of the JPFO  Aaron Zelman wrote a book a few years ago about mass murder and who the reigning champs are and it isn't Timothy McVeigh or Osama.
http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/deathgc.htm#chart   it's something to keep in mind when a politician says he or she wants to infringe on the 2nd amendment. 

Free speech and power

From The Breda Fallacy comes this cool little video which ably points out not everyone has the freedom to speak or even read.  

How Obama Rid Washington of Special Interest Lobbyists, Except for All the Special Interest Lobbyists - Hit

How Obama Rid Washington of Special Interest Lobbyists, Except for All the Special Interest Lobbyists - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine
Fisking at it's finest, the comments are fun too.

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The View From North Central Idaho - Israel and Guns

From Joe at The View From North Central Idaho - Israel and Guns

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From Cato

Obama has several models to choose from: He could reverse his tax-spend-and-regulate policies and hope for the same economic and political results that Reagan achieved. He could, like Bill Clinton, recognize the political obstacles to his sweeping ambitions and learn to work with Republicans on modest reforms. He may well end up like Lyndon Johnson, with an ambitious domestic agenda eventually bogged down by endless war. But I don't think his wished-for FDR model — a transformative agenda that is both popular and long-lasting — is in the cards. Read the whole thing.

Wrong on so many levels

NYC proving yet again why I wouldn't even think of visiting. Let's lock up the victim it's safer than going after real live criminals.
Hat tip to Tam.

Government is not the answer

What is Driving Rising Healthcare Costs? — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Ruminations on health care

From Chris over at AnarchAngel comes something to think about regarding healthcare costs.