August, 2010 archive
“Running the Government Like a Business” Is a Silly Idea 0
Chris Satullo explains. A nugget:
Business exists to make a profit, for the benefit of a limited group of owners. It serves customers only so far as doing that furthers its primary goal.
Government’s goal is to break even, while promoting the public good . And in government, your shareholders – the voters – are the same people as your customers. That makes it a lot harder to please the boss by cutting costs.
Carlyfornication 0
Is “fewer governments” the same as “less government”:
Dissolving Half Moon Bay — handing the city’s budget, operations and services to San Mateo County — would be an absolute last resort, but the city may not have many other options left, City Councilman John Muller said.
I’ve never been to Half Moon Bay, though I have been to Santa Cruz, just down the coast from it (CA-17 is one scary road, especially in a rental car at dusk after a five-hour flight).
Nevertheless, I suspect Half Moon Bay needs more in the way services than do the mountain ranges that make up most of San Mateo County.
This is another result of taxpayers wanting to want without wanting to pay.
The days when you could go over the next ridge, build a cabin, and hitch up Old Dobbin to the plough, and be self-sufficient are long gone.
King: “I Have a Dream” 0
One more time.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Children must be taught from a young age that politeness grows from the barrel of a gun.
It is the craziest of stories. The girl’s Molholm Elementary School pre-kindergarten teacher was gathering up the kids’ belongings Wednesday when she got to the backpack.
It was heavy. She looked inside. The cops were called.
Closer to home:
Dream to Nightmare 0
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| I Have a Scheme | ||||
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See Steven M’s post on “L. Ron Beck.”
Via TPM.
Post Racial 0
I am shocked–shocked!–that stuff like this happens these days:
Updates indicate that the policy is being changed.
Drink Silent, Drink Deep 0
No doubt they were bombed.
The archaeologists called police and the Bomb Squad evacuated the immediate area at Richmond and Cumberland Streets, near I-95.
Facebook Frolics 0
In the San Jose Mercury-News.
Socialists Here, There, and Everywhere 0
It is nothing new to charge crusaders for human rights with being socialists (emphasis added):
Let’s Just Strip Search Everyone All the Time 0
Better still, let’s just all walk around naked.
From the ACLU:
Backscatter X-rays are one of the technologies that are used in full body scanners at airports (over our strenuous objections). They can see through clothing and reveal the naked human form.
We don’t know exactly how government purchasers of these vans are using them, but if they are in fact being used on public streets, that would be a major violation of the Constitution. In fact, it’s hard to believe that any counsel at any government agency would sign off on allowing these vans to be used in that way.
Bob Cesca comments.
Bloomberg: “This Is Plain and Simple People Trying To Stir Up Things” 0
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Michael Bloomberg | ||||
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Via TPM.
How To Get Out of the Water 0
Get foreclosed:
That’s still more than one in five local mortgage borrowers – 21 percent – who are “underwater” on the loans, according to CoreLogic, which is based in Santa Ana, Calif., and tracks mortgages across the country.
Although the number of underwater homes has fallen by about 2,000 since the end of 2009, the firm attributed the decline to lenders foreclosing on previously underwater properties rather than home values stabilizing or going up.
There. Problem solved.
Happy Birthday to Me 0
Five years and over 7500 posts later . . . .
And the boast is yet to come.
