Capitalism: Bringing Books to Millions

Posted on November 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

Some of the world’s best authors are having their books controlled by the most massive corporations the history has eve seen.  Prices are manipulated and the result is that consumers are getting the shaft are seeing some of the best deals ever seen.

Early in the day, Amazon was selling Grisham’s book of short stories for $9, the same price it had offered for “Ford County” before publication and a sign that Amazon was ready to continue the cost competition beyond the release date. Walmart.com was selling “Ford County” for $12 early Tuesday, then cut the price to the pre-order discount of $8.98.

And how are consumers across the country being abused?

Hardcovers generally have a list price of $24 or higher,

Wait.  Their not?  You mean that we are bring the most popular books in print to millions of people who otherwise may not have been able to afford ’em?  This MUST be bad, right?  Yup.

“We run the risk of seriously devaluing our product,” Grisham told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Poor starving artist.

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Posted in Economics

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And We Needed More Proof

Posted on November 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

The government, by fiat, has taken over control of an industry.  Elsewhere, we have demonstrated that when exposed to the open market, supply is enhanced and prices plummet.  But not now.  In the name of public welfare, the government has said

We shall save you!

And it’s costing us big time.

Health care?  Nope.

Booze.

Raleigh, N.C. — Alcohol is a $720 million a year business in North Carolina, and state law allows North Carolina government to have a monopoly on sales. However, a number of ABC stores across the state are barely surviving or are losing money.

Unreal.  You could open a liquor store where ever two roads meet and make money.  How is it that these guys fail?

“They can’t make them operate better. They can’t make them a profit,” Shaw said.

Right.  I forgot.  Government.

The best part?  Dry counties can have liquor stores.

The study also suggests the market is over-saturated with stores. Some counties are considered “dry” and don’t allow alcohol sales, but state law allows 500 voters in those counties to vote for an ABC board to run a store.

I think we should let these guys run health care; you?

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Posted in Politics: National, Politics: North Carolina

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Where Brad and Britt Have it Wrong

Posted on November 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

I was listening to the Brad and Britt show this morning on my way to work.  The show was dominated by Rep Foxx’ comments regarding terrorism and the health care bill.   And, prolly as it should, the discussion turned back to the whole health care debate in general.  The old, should we or shouldn’t we thing concerning health care.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I love me some health care debate.  Not at all.  But what killed me was Britt’s comment:

Look, these people are already going to the emergency room and we’re paying for that.  We might as well insure them, use the power of numbers to reduce the cost, so that we all save money!

I wonder if he would say this:

Look, we are buying these people food and clothing.  We’re sending them checks every month.  We may as well take some of their paycheck early in life, invest it for them so that when they need it, they can have it later in life!

My guess.  He wouldn’t.  Which is why I call bullshit.

We all have Liberty given to us.  We can make choices or not make choices.  The consequences are there to be had.  Either you are for protecting that Liberty or you are not.

Brad and Britt are not.  They are political hacks making a buck off the radio.

Pure.

And.

Simple.

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Posted in Health Care, Politics: North Carolina

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An Interesting Test

Posted on November 2, 2009 | 2 comments

If you break into my house and threaten my wife and kids; expect to be shot.  And hopefully killed.  Self defense is one of the most dominant of American traits.  And really, it makes sense that it be so.  After all, I have the freedomw to call mine what is mine.  To sell it, keep it or give it away.  It’s the cornerstone of what makes us great.

I’m also a father.  And when going into the delivery room for each of my children, I pulled the doc aside, looked her dead in the eye, and said “If at any time there is to be a choice, a choice between my wife or the baby, be very clear that it is my expectation you will not flinch when I tell you to save my wife.”  I get the whole choice thing when it comes to weighing the tender balance of two lives.

So I get that there are certain cases where a person would make a choice to take the life of another.  I do.  If my wife’s life would have been put in danger due to the pregnancy, I would without a doubt, terminate that pregnancy.  Without a doubt.  But equally so, there would be no doubt that what I was doing was weighing one human life against another.  It wouldn’t cross my mind that what I was doing was removing a wart or mole.  It would sadden me greatly that I was ending the life of my child.

And because of that, I understand the argument being made in Raleigh.

Family members of murder victims spoke to a Chapel Hill crowd Saturday in support of proposed legislation that would recognize unborn children as victims in homicide cases.

…

“You can’t tell me it is not a human being,” Blaine said of Nielsen’s unborn child.

She’s right.  The man that took her daughter’s life not only robbed a mother of her daughter, but a grandmother of her grandchild. In that one act, that man took two human lives.  It’s time this law is passed.  And then extrapolated.  Extrapolated into anti-abortion laws in cases where it makes sense; health of mother/child and victim of crime.

But the left won’t allow it:

When similar bills have been introduced, various women’s rights and pro-choice groups have spoken against it.

And that’s gross.

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Posted in Liberty, Politics: State

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The Stunning Effect of Government

Posted on November 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

History is littered with the stories of government abuse.  Instances where brutal dictators have stolen from their nations and enslaved their people.  In other cases, these leaders actually sing a song so enticing that the people don’t even see what’s going on.  The readily hand over their treasures, their hard work and even their dignity.  All because of some false promise with no hope of delivery.  A modern-day example is taking place in Venezuela.

Five months after Venezuela nationalized dozens of oil service contractors in Zulia state, the once-bustling industrial dock on Lake Maracaibo is nearly abandoned, and the 16 red flags raised to celebrate the takeovers are already tattered and faded.

First, this should shock no one.  The very idea that a government could run a corporation is laughable.

The this gem:

A few small groups of workers remain, hoping to get the jobs they were promised after the expropriations.

At least the story doesn’t read “A few large groups…..”

And then the tragedy:

“We demand our jobs. Because we haven’t gotten an answer, we’re still here,” said Demostenes Velasquez

I love it.  Our jobs.  Like, you know, they’re his.  And someone came and took ’em.   “We haven’t gotten an answer!”  as he just STOMPS his feet.  Okay, sorry.  Mr. Velasquez is prolly just a little angry and will move on as soon as this reporter walks away, right?  Wrong:

Demostenes Velasquez, who for months has lived under the scorching sun in a tent improvised from remnants of oil union election pamphlets.

At least he has the Union to thank for his shelter.  But that’s about all their going to give him, cause even THEY have left.  But check out the brother.  Living for MONTHS in a tent!  I’ve never heard such outrageous bullshit.

But the best part?  The BEST part?

Despite the protests, most of the workers don’t blame Chavez or his revolution, but individual managers of the state oil company.  “Five months ago, our President Hugo Chavez announced the glorious news (of the nationalization) that would benefit the town, but some (PDVSA) managers have contradicted it,” said Velasquez, a self-proclaimed “Chavista” who dresses in the red clothing popular with champions of the president.

I should be surprised that we elected Obama.  Maybe I should be surprised that it took us this long.

But hey, a little sacrifice is nothing compared to the benefit of the oil industry, right?  Ooops.

Experts said production in west Maracaibo has a capacity of up to 1 million barrels per day (bpd). But experts say its rate of decline has accelerated since nationalizations.

…

The oil industry slowdown has reverberated throughout the economy. According to the Association of Retailers and Industrialists of Lagunillas, commercial activity in the region has contracted between 30 and 70 percent.

Yeah.  This is gonna work out just fine.  Just fine.

Oil tanker

A few small groups of workers remain, hoping to get the jobs they were promised after the expropriations.

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Posted in Economics, Politics: International

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A Lesson in the Tender Mercies of Government Programs

Posted on November 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

Of course this is how it turns out:

The Seattle Library proposal for 2010 would cut service hours by 23 percent, and 21 of the branches would limit access to 35 hours a week.

There are too many methods to suggest on how Seattle might fix this situation.  None of them will likely dawn on the civic leaders of that fair city.  Why?  Because they are government employees.  They are unable to access value in the face of duty.

See, if you suggest that perhaps Seattle should charge a bit more [if they even charge now] for their services, those fair-minded bastions of civic service would blanch!

Charge more for books!?!  We simply couldn’t do that, it wouldn’t be fair to the people of our fair city!  They are dependent upon us to provide them with a safe place to read books.  Charge.  Hah!

So instead, they’ll just reduce the availability of those free services; by 23%.  I guess with holding free services isn’t considered unfair.  And such is the mind of the leftist.  It is better to have less of a free service than more of a fee based service, even though by being fee based, you get a better system. How much would it take, do you ask, to restore services to the city’s libraries?  Let’s check:

It could operate three more branches seven days a week, for about $430,000; it could add six more for $860,000, or it could add three seven-day branches and restore a sixth day at all branches for about $1 million.

And how many people visit the library each year?

According to the ALA, Seattle, with its central library and 26 branches, is one of the top cities of its size in the nation for library visits, more than 6 million a year. Nearly one in 11 Seattle residents use the library

So, we need to scare out $1 million from 6 million visits; that’s about 0.16 per visit.  But that would mean charging people for a service.  A service that they are now getting less of.

Oh, I we haven’t even discussed just simply reducing costs yet….

And they want to trust these guys to run health care.

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Posted in Politics: National

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The Cost of the War

Posted on October 31, 2009 | 1 comment

I was tooling around the internet this morning and hit upon Ben Hoffman’s site.  He had some really good activity on the War in Iraq.  One of my comments there gave me reason to maybe make a post of my own.

Make no  mistake about it, this war is and always has been about what is good for America.  We may have been wrong, we may have been right.  But the reasons we invaded were reasons that would benefit the good ‘ol US of A.

Some think that we invaded because we thought there were weapons of mass destruction.  Others think that we invaded to give us better leverage in Middle East politics.  Some feel we invaded for oil.  And others yet think that we invaded because Dubya wanted revenge for his Daddy.

Whatever the reason we went in, the fact remains that we did.  And those from the Left are pissed.  Pah-issed. If it ain’t the money we spent it’s the lives that have been lost.  Not only ours, but those of the innocent Iraqi civilians too.  They just scream that we are killing civilians.  Let’s take a look.

Saddam Hussein became President of Iraq in July of 1979.  The United States overthrew him in April of 2003.  During that time, Saddam was responsible for between 600,000 and 1,000,000 civilian death.  When you break down the deaths per month, and only Iraqi civilian deaths–not ALL deaths, you get between 2,105 and 3,509 civilian deaths per month.  These are deaths due to Saddam Hussein being in power.

Now, let’s flash forward to the US invasion.  We removed Saddam from power 78 months ago.  If Saddam remained in power for those 78 months, he would have put to death between 164,190 and 273,702 innocent Iraqi civilians.  Using the numbers provided by this Liberal website we see that between 93,793 and 102,330 people have died due to the invasion.  The difference for the average civilian in Iraq since the US invasion toppled Saddam?

Between 70,397 and 171,372 more of their neighbors, friends and family would have been killed.

Makes you wonder why the Liberal Left hates the average Iraqi so much, doesn’t it?

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Posted in War

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This Is What It Will Look Like

Posted on October 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

A foretaste of the feast too come:

LOS ANGELES – It was bound to happen: Some people who aren’t at high risk for swine flu complications got the much-in-demand vaccine.

Sometimes they were healthy adults or senior citizens instead of kids, pregnant women and people with health problems.

Before Los Angeles County health officials stepped up screening at their flu clinics, Natalie Thompson sailed through the long line and got the vaccine along with her 8-year-old son, even though she’s not in one of the priority groups.

“If I can get it, I’m not gonna say no,” said Thompson, 35, of Hollywood Hills.

Another mom, Katy Radparvar, didn’t say no either.

“Our doctor doesn’t have it yet,” said the 41-year-old woman who was vaccinated along with her three children at a public health vaccination site in suburban Encino last week.

Public health officials don’t want to be vaccine police. Many don’t turn anyone away who wants the vaccine, though some locations are tougher than others.

“For many this is a frustrating process and we really sympathize with those who show up at a clinic and can’t get vaccinated,” said Los Angeles County public health director Dr. Jonathan Fielding.

Across the country, thousands have waited in line and many have been turned away, as manufacturers have trickled out the slow-to-produce vaccine. Things are improving, and now about 25 million doses are available, the government says.

Aware of scant supplies up front, Santa Barbara County clinics administered their 4,400 shots to pregnant women only. San Diego County is only immunizing those on the priority list, but is taking the word of residents.

Look, it’s simple.  Like anything in this world, there is never enough of it to satisfy everyone’s desire for it at full capacity.  That is, if free, there would never be enough Coke, gasoline, tennis shoes or hair brushes.  Medical care is the same.  And when organizing a nation, that fact should not escape anyone; especially the leaders.  The hard thing to acknowledge is that we know people will get sick.  Some people will die.

The good news is that medical technology will continue to hum along generating new and better services and techniques that will cure or heal people today that a mere five years ago would have been fatal.  And you simply HAVE to take solace in that.

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Posted in Health Care, Politics: National, Politics: North Carolina

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What You Will Never Hear On Main Stream Media

Posted on October 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

The other day a story broke about the Texas man that requested his Latino employees to Anglicize their names.

The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they’d be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.

No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.

Not sure where I fall on this one.  I mean, jeez.  On the other hand, he has a point.  If a customer can’t understand your name, it makes it hard to relate to that customer.  Maybe he should have made it clear that he was going to have the employees change their names when he hired them; I don’t know.  But what I DO know is this clip from CNN is awesome.

Just listen to the females reporter’s voice as she “interviews” this guy.  Her tone is simply dripping with intent and scorn.  Then listen as Rick Sanchez weighs in.  I’ll tell ya this much; the Main Stream Media will NEVER play this for you!

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Posted in Immigration, Race

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Check Your Work

Posted on October 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

Global Warming.  GLOBAL WARMING!

The globe is warming, man is causing it and we are all going to die!

And this is settled science.  ‘Cause that’s what all the science says.  And the news is telling us so!

PHILADELPHIA –- An international team of environmental scientists led by the University of Pennsylvania has shown that sea-level rise, at least in North Carolina, is accelerating. Researchers found 20th-century sea-level rise to be three times higher than the rate of sea-level rise during the last 500 years. In addition, this jump appears to occur between 1879 and 1915, a time of industrial change that may provide a direct link to human-induced climate change.

…

The rate of relative sea-level rise, or RSLR, during the 20th century was 3 to 3.3 millimeters per year, higher than the usual rate of one per year. Furthermore, the acceleration appears consistent with other studies from the Atlantic coast, though the magnitude of the acceleration in North Carolina is larger than at sites farther north along the U.S. and Canadian Atlantic coast and may be indicative of a latitudinal trend related to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

Holy Moly!

But wait.  What happens when a skeptic goes and checks the data?

Fortunately they provide the data with the plot. You can read all about the Topex/Poseidon data preparation here. I took that raw data and plotted it here in an expanded size and did a trend line.  The result was surprising. A slight negative trend.

See, this is the problem I have with the Global Warming crowd.  They claim they have data.  Back away from data that shows their data to be wrong.  They make predictions suing bad data and then ignore the fact that their predictions are always wrong.

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Posted in Global Warming

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