10 November 2009

10 November 2009

Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

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Job Losses Continue Despite False Claims and Broken Promises from White House [Americans for Tax Reform]

New York Times “Celebrates” the Fall of the Berlin Wall [Cato at Liberty“Celebrates” the Fall of the Berlin Wall]

NOV 09, 2009 05:01P.M.

NOV 09, 2009 03:19P.M.

The following was originally posted at www.workerfreedom.org In response to October’s abysmal employment numbers, the Alliance for

In a way, I always knew it would happen. I knew that, come November 9, the left-leaning NYT would publish an article focusing on the supposed crisis of capitalism rather than the end of communist dictatorship. Still, I was not prepared for Slavoj Zizek’s op-ed entitled “20 Years of Collapse.”

Worker Freedom sent out the follow press release: Click here to vie...

First, a few words about the author — a Marxist philosopher from Slovenia. Generally ignored or ridiculed in Slovenia, Zizek is considered (by some) to be the new messiah of leftist thought in the West. Why did the NYT chose to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the collapse of communism with Zizek’s call for “socialism with a human face,” rather than an op-ed by someone like Vladimir Bukovsky, a former Soviet political prisoner tormented for years by the communists, is anyone’s guess.

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Union Cost Increases in Dem. Healthcare Bill Raises Hospital Costs by $27 Billion [Americans for Tax Reform]

But, it is the substance of Zizek’s article that is so misleading. The article makes absolutely no mention of the economic progress made in Central and Eastern Europe. Yet, as the World Bank and even the United Nations tell us, incomes in the region have substantially increased and so has school enrollment. People live longer and healthier lives; environmental quality has much improved.

NOV 09, 2009 04:55P.M. The following was originally posted at www.workerfreedom.org On Saturday, the House passed H.R. 3962, a health care bill which includes a public option. The Alliance for Worker Freedom sent out the f...

Zizek mentions communist oppression, but nowhere does he mention that 100 million people have died in the pursuit of communist utopia. Contemporary Marxists either ignore the astonishingly high number of victims of communism or try to minimize it. That is understandable. No matter what the (real or imagined) problems with capitalism are today, no sane person would be willing to embrace an alternative to capitalism that has a habit of resulting in a mountain of corpses. The second — and equally risible tactic of contemporary communists (as Paul Hollander mentions in his just released Cato study) — is to try to draw a moral equivalence between socialism and market democracy. Zizek attempts to do exactly that by telling a story of a Soviet defector who became an outspoken critic of McCarthyism in the United States. The idea that there is any but the most superficial similarity between Soviet totalitarianism and the United States in the 1950s is preposterous — unless, of course, you are a modern-day leftist trying to salvage

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whatever remains of your philosophy from the dustbin of history.

10 November 2009

the constitutional hurdle of “public use.”

Zizek is right to point out that there is growing disenchantment with capitalism and democracy. But, the recently released Pew and BBC polls have surely been influenced by the current (and likely temporary) economic environment, which, we are told, is the worst since the Great Depression. There are other psychological factors at work. Current problems feature more prominently in the minds of today’s Central and Eastern Europeans than shortages of 20 years ago and the old tend to remember their youth fondly — no matter what the actual political and economic circumstances.

That this purported “public use” is now exposed as the façade for corporate welfare that it always was is, of course, little comfort to Suzette Kelo and the other homeowners whose land was seized. But hopefully this will be an object lesson for other companies considering eminent domain abuse as a route to acquire land on the cheap — and especially for state and local officials who acquiesce in this type of behavior. You can read Cato’s amicus brief for the ill-fated case here. Cato also hosted a book forum for the story of Suzette’s struggle, Little Pink House, featuring the author, Jeff Benedict, the attorney who argued the case, the Institute for Justice’s Scott Bullock, and Ms. Kelo herself, here.

Last, but not least, young people in the region know very little about communism. Learning about communism is by-and-large superficial, because the level of collaboration with communist regimes was very high among the general public. A thorough investigation of communist crimes would open too many wounds, it is claimed. Unfortunately, this collective amnesia means that instead of appreciating the great advances that their societies have made over the past 20 years, young people focus on their societies’ shortcomings vis-à-vis the contemporary West.

HT: Jonathan Blanks

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A Preemptive Word on “Lone Wolves” [Cato at Liberty“Lone Wolves”]

I have lived under communism. Although I have never personally experienced its true horrors, I had family members who did. The NYT’s choice of a lead op-ed on the day of an almost miraculous deliverance of hundreds of millions of people from communist slavery is shameful and sickening.

NOV 09, 2009 01:37P.M. As Marcy Wheeler notes, the press seem to have settled on the term “lone wolf” to describe Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hasan, which means it’s probably only a matter of time before we encounter a pundit or legislator who is cynical or befuddled enough (or both) to invoke the tragedy in defense of the PATRIOT Act’s constitutionally dubious Lone Wolf provision. (A “matter of time” apparently meaning the time it took me to write that sentence: We have a winner!) Though the Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would renew the measure, their counterparts in the House wisely—though narrowly—voted to permit it to expire last week.

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Taking Land for Public Uselessness [Cato at Liberty] NOV 09, 2009 03:15P.M. Over at the Washington Examiner, Tim Carney reports that Pfizer is abandoning its New London offices and deciding what to do with the property it gained in the infamous Kelo v. New London land-grab:

To spare anyone tempted by this argument some embarrassment: The Lone Wolf provision is totally irrelevant to this case. It could not have been used to investigate Hasan, nor would it have been necessary.

The private homes that New London, Conn., took away from Suzette Kelo and her neighbors have been torn down. Their former site is a wasteland of fields of weeds, a monument to the power of eminent domain. But now Pfizer, the drug company whose neighboring research facility had been the original cause of the homes’ seizure, has just announced that it is closing up shop in New London.

The Lone Wolf provision permits the targeting of non-U.S. persons when there is probable cause to believe they’re preparing to engage in acts of international terrorism. Even if we assume the statutory definition of “international terrorism” could be stretched to cover the Fort Hood attack—and perhaps it could—the provision would have been inapplicable to the Virginia–born Hasan.

To lure those jobs to New London a decade ago, the local government promised to demolish the older residential neighborhood adjacent to the land Pfizer was buying for nextto-nothing. Suzette Kelo fought the taking to the Supreme Court, and lost. Five justices found this redevelopment met

So were investigators powerless? Of course not. PATRIOT’s Lone Wolf clause relates only to whether the tools available under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act can be invoked. Shooting people, however, is a crime even when committed for reasons having nothing to do with jihad, and the standard for obtaining a warrant—probable cause—is the

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10 November 2009

same. The chief advantage of FISA tools is that they tend to be both highly secret and, in certain respects, broader than criminal investigative tools—features that are vital when dealing with trained terror agents who are working with an international network it’s important not to tip off, but not so much for “lone wolves,” who by definition lack any such network.

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In fact, though, even if the most ambitious reforms proposed by Democrats had been in place, PATRIOT powers could have been brought to bear on Hasan had investigators chosen to do so. We are told, for instance, that investigators months ago became aware of Hasan’s efforts to contact al-Qaeda affiliates abroad. That alone would have provided grounds—again, under current law and under the most civil-liberties protective modifications being considered—for the issuance of National Security Letters seeking his financial and telecommunications records.

On its front page today, the Washington Times reports that expanded powers for the Federal Reserve are being opposed by “odd allies.” The Fed’s imperial over-reach for additional regulatory powers is being opposed by Democrats and Republicans, and liberals and conservatives alike. As well it should be. As Senator Shelby observed, “Anointing the Fed as the systemic-risk regulator will make what has proven to be a bad bank regulator even worse.”

Fed Opposed by Left and Right [Cato at Liberty] NOV 09, 2009 12:28P.M.

The regulation of financial services failed conspicuously to prevent the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Fed failed most conspicuously as it was charged with oversight of all the major banks, including notably Citigroup and Bank of America. Bank regulation now functions to insulate banks from the consequences of their own bad acts. The regulatory system enables banks to engage in excessive risk taking.

The truth is that the Lone Wolf provision didn’t help—and couldn’t have helped—stop this “lone wolf.” Indeed, it’s hard to imagine what additional powers would have been useful here given what it seems investigators already knew. As our recent history makes all too clear, what typically makes the difference between intelligence success and failure is not how much information you can get, at least past a certain point, but knowing what to do with the information you’ve got. But of course, that’s difficult to do, and doesn’t tend to be the kind of thing that can be fixed with a couple crude statutory provision you can brag about in press releases to your constituents. So pundits and legislators see a delicate information processing system failing to flag the right targets and conclude, every time, that the right solution is more juice! Turn up the voltage! Try that troubleshooting strategy with your laptop sometime

The Obama Administration and Chairman Barney Frank of the House Financial Services Committee propose that an expanded role for the Fed and generally more of the same will improve matters. Instead, the proposed legislation will worsen the situation by codifying the status of the major financial institutions as “too-big-to-fail.” It would thereby provide them with special legal status. We have all seen this movie and how it ends. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had such a status and collapsed. Do we need 20 more such disasters?

and let me know how it works out.

Three cheers for all those opposing this destructive piece of legislation. End “too-big-to-fail” instead. FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Tennessee candidate Lou Ann Zelenik signs the Taxpayer Protection Pledge [Americans for Tax Reform]

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It All Began In Poland, 19391989 [Cato at Liberty] NOV 09, 2009 12:25P.M.

NOV 09, 2009 12:57P.M. The fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago today is rightly being celebrated in Germany as a momentous historical event that led to a huge increase in human freedom around the world. The wall was indeed the most visible physical symbol of an inhumane system that divided Germany and Europe, holding captive hundreds of millions of people.

Rutherford County GOP Chair Lou Ann Zelenik, who is running for congress in Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District, recently signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Cook Political Report classif...

At a seminar in Wroclaw, Poland hosted by the Polish Adam Smith Center last month, I was reminded that the Poles correctly view their country as playing a central role in the 20th century drama of totalitarian aggression and eventual liberation. As the title of a book I was given suggests—It All Began In Poland—the country’s invasion by Nazi Germany, which sparked World War II, and the invasion and partial

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occupation by the Soviet Union almost immediately thereafter signaled what was in store for much of Europe. Similarly, the peaceful revolution of freedom that culminated in the collapse of communism was symbolized and pushed forward early on by Poland’s heroic Solidarity movement.

10 November 2009

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Remembering the Wall [Cato at Liberty] NOV 09, 2009 11:18A.M.

People from all parts of the former Soviet empire deserve recognition and admiration for their efforts and sacrifices in promoting freedom. As we reflect on this momentous day, let’s remember the special role the

This morning, Politico Arena asks: Is it a “tragedy” (Newt Gingrich) that Obama did not go to Berlin to commemorate the fall of the wall?

Poles played in making the world a better place.

My response: FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS There are many ways to characterize President Obama’s failure to appear personally today, on behalf of the American people, to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. None does him credit. Yet to criticize his decision is to invite the derision of his apologists, as we are seeing already here at Politico Arena. It is as if the Cold War never ended. And at a fundamental level, it hasn’t.

It Could Happen Here Too [Cato at Liberty] NOV 09, 2009 11:51A.M. The Washington Post reports that China’s ‘netizens’ are holding

The Berlin Wall fell for many reasons, ranging from the internal contradictions of communism to the moral clarity and courage of communism’s opponents. Above all, however, the Cold War marked a fundamental clash of ideas. And nothing symbolized that clash more starkly than the Berlin Wall. It was erected not to keep West Germans out of the “workers paradise” but to keep East Germans trapped behind the wall, many of whom were mercilessly shot as they tried to flee their brutal captors. What greater symbol could there be of the difference between freedom and oppression.

authorities to new standard.

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Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Wall [Cato at Liberty] NOV 09, 2009 11:51A.M.

Yet for all that time there were apologists and temporizers in the West. “Detente,” “moral equivalence,” “convergence” — “we are now free of that inordinate fear of communism,” President Carter said in 1977, even as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Vladimir Bukovsky, Natan Sharansky, and others were documenting the horrors of communism. And only two years before the wall fell, as the Wall Street Journal notes editorially this morning, we heard CBS’s Dan Rather say, “Despite what many Americans think, most Soviets do not yearn for capitalism or Westernstyle democracy.”

On his personal blog, Bottom-Up, Cato adjunct scholar Timothy B. Lee compares the Berlin Wall to the wall along the southern border of the United States. There are differences, of course, but important similarities too. [I]t’s jarring that less than 20 years after one Republican president gave a stirring speech about the barbarity of erecting a wall to trap millions of people in a country they wanted to leave, another Republican president signed legislation to do just that. Conservatives, of course, bristle at analogies between East Germany’s wall and our own, but they seem unable to explain how they actually differ.

Which brings us to President Obama. What does he think? Where does he stand on this fundamental clash of ideas? What meaning is to be drawn from his decision to forgo the commemoration in Berlin today? One can only speculate from what he has said and done, but the record does not inspire. To be sure, several of his speeches suggest that he is a man of freedom — but his actions contradict those words. Where has he been on the great human rights issues of our day? When reformers were being brutalized in Iran, both over the summer and last week, he was slow, at best, to find a voice. When the Dalai Lama visited last month, Obama declined to see him — the first time, in 10 visits since 1991, that a U.S. president has done so. He’s had us join the U.N. Human Rights Council, the main mission of which seems to be to criticize the U.S. and Israel while lending credibility to its own oppressive members. There’s more, but on balance it’s a sorry record. He’s no Ronald Reagan.

Judging by its ‘wall’ policies, the United States appears to value the freedom of Europeans more than Americans.

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It’s on the domestic front, however, that questions loom especially large. His every move is that of a government man. True to his roots as a “community organizer,” he sees government as the solution to our problems. On autos, he has converted a bailout into ownership, fired the head of GM, and told the auto companies what kinds of cars to build, despite what the market might say. He has appointed a “pay czar” — among many other “czars,” not to go unnoticed on this day — and empowered him to set executive pay scales. He is promoting a union organizing scheme that effectively eliminates the secret ballot, environmental policies that fall most heavily on the poor, and tax and spend policies that penalize ambition and thrift while indebting us for generations to come. And his health care policy will in time make us all dependent on government. Those policies, like so much else on his agenda, will restrict rather than expand our choices. If enacted, we will all be less free.

10 November 2009

daughter.

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Monday Links [Cato at Liberty] NOV 09, 2009 10:42A.M. • Today marks 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Full roundup of commentary on that historic day, here. • The heroes who helped bring down the Wall. • One size does not fit all: How the federal health care overhaul will disrupt progress in states that are already addressing problems at home.

It is the siren song of government “beneficence” that Obama seems most to hear, oblivious to the lessons of the 20th century. The tragedy would be that we ourselves forgot that the fundamental clash of ideas will

• Move over Fox News: The Obama administration takes aim at climate scientists.

always be with us, even when the Berlin Wall is a distant memory.

• Podcast: “ObamaCare: A Bad Deal for Young Adults“ FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Monday’s Daily News [The Club for Growth]

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Twenty Years Ago Today [The Club for Growth]

NOV 09, 2009 11:02A.M. Michael Reagan is in Berlin to reflect on his father’s role in helping bring down the Wall twenty years ago.

NOV 09, 2009 10:20A.M. Via Peter Boettke:

Two solid WSJ editorials: The Lords of Entitlement and Why the Berlin Wall Fell. John Tamny asks, “If Obama is so bad, why are the markets up?” Ludwig von Mises: The man who predicted the Great Depression. President Obama has started an accidental war on America’s exporters. According to Aaron Blake of The Hill, here are the top ten conservative conundrums of 2010. There are 237 millionaires in Congress. George Mason economist Bryan Caplan is the curator of the online Museum of Communism. Here’s a cool interactive chart on what the unemployment rate is for different people. David Henderson explains the fall of the Berlin Wall to his 4-year old

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10 November 2009

PAID FOR BY CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC AND NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S

Club PAC Endorses Rubio in FL-Sen [The Club for Growth]

COMMITTEE. 202-955-5500.

NOV 09, 2009 09:21A.M. FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Health Care: Not Close to Over [Cato at Liberty]

Club for Growth PAC Endorses Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate

NOV 09, 2009 09:18A.M.

Former Florida House Speaker ‘the Real Deal,’ Crist the ‘Wrong Direction’

The fat lady hasn’t even started to warm up yet. The narrow 220-215 victory in the House on Saturday night was a step forward on the road to a government takeover of the health care system. But as close and dramatic as that vote was, that was the easy part. The Senate must still pass its version of reform—which will not be the bill that just passed the House. Nancy Pelosi was, after all, able to lose the votes of 39 moderate Democrats. Harry Reid cannot afford to lose even one. A conference committee must reconcile the two vastly different versions. And then, Pelosi must hold together her 3 vote margin of victory (if it gets that far). Yet several House Democrats who voted for the bill on Saturday said they did so only to “advance the process.” Their vote is far from guaranteed on final passage. And, House liberals are almost certain to be disappointed by the more moderate bill that may emerge from the conference.

WASHINGTON - Club for Growth PAC today endorsed Marco Rubio in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Florida. “Marco Rubio is the real deal, one of the brightest young stars in American politics today, and a proven champion of economic liberty,” said Club President Chris Chocola. “He is a dynamic spokesman for the principles of limited government and economic freedom, and he will make a fantastic Senator.” Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000-2008, and was elected to the Republican leadership as Majority Whip, Majority Leader, and finally, Speaker of the House. Rubio is an advocate of lower federal spending, tax relief and tax reform, union members’ right to a secret ballot, and market-driven energy and environmental solutions.

Among the more contentious issues: Individual Mandate: This should’ve been low-hanging fruit. Democrats agreed on a mandate early in the process. But it became increasingly plain that a mandate would hit those with insurance as well as the uninsured — forcing people who are happy with their plan to switch to a different, possibly more expensive plan. With this mandate now being seen as a middle-class tax hike, qualms have developed. The House bill contains a strict mandate, with penalties of 2.5 percent of income backed up by up to five years in jail. The Senate Finance Committee, on the other hand, watered down the mandate’s penalties and delayed the mandates implementation.

Rubio’s Republican primary opponent is Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who supported President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus, proposed a state “cap-and-trade” energy program, and this summer broke his pledge not to sign any state tax increases. “Charlie Crist has repeatedly joined with big government liberals on major economic issues facing America today, from taxes to spending to cap-and-trade,” Chocola said. “He represents the wrong direction for our economy and our nation.”

Employer Mandate: The House bill also contains an employer mandate, a requirement that all but the smallest employers provide insurance to their workers or pay a penalty tax of up to 8 percent of payroll. The Senate, looking at unemployment rates over 10 percent, seems unlikely to include an employer mandate.

“The Club for Growth PAC has spent months studying this race, and we have concluded that either Charlie Crist or Marco Rubio would be heavily favored to win next November against likely Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek,” Chocola said. “The only question now is what kind of Republican will Florida send to Washington next year: a pro-growth Republican with a record of fiscal conservatism or a biggovernment Republican with a record of tax increases?”

The Public Option: The House included, if not a “robust” public option, at least a semi-robust one. But moderate Democrats in the Senate are clearly not on board. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) says that he will join a Republican filibuster if the public option is included. Harry Reid is trying various permutations: a trigger, an opt-in, an opt-out. But as of now there is not 60 votes for any variation.

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The Sheer Cost: Fiscal hawks like Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) say they will not support a bill that adds to the deficit or spends too much. But the house bill cost a minimum of $1.2 trillion.

10 November 2009

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The Club’s Chris Chocola on Fox News Channel [The Club for Growth]

Taxes: The House plan to add a surtax on incomes of $500,000 or more a year has no support in the Senate. At the same time, the Senate plan to slap a 40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” insurance plans is unacceptable to key Democratic constituencies like labor unions.

NOV 09, 2009 09:03A.M.

Abortion: Conservative Democrats insisted on a strict prohibition on the use of government funds for abortion. The bill could not have passed without the inclusion of that provision. House liberal swallowed hard and voted for the bill, despite what they called “a poison pill” anyway with the expectation that it will be removed later. If the final bill includes the prohibition at least a couple liberals could defect. If it doesn’t, conservative Democrats won’t be on board.

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How to Flunk the Taliban [Cato at Liberty]

Immigration: The Senate Finance Committee included a provision barring illegal immigrants from purchasing insurance through the government-run Exchange. The House Hispanic Caucus says that if that provision is in the final bill, they will vote against it.

NOV 09, 2009 08:44A.M. An interesting story in the San Francisco Chronicle highlighting how private schools are outcompeting both radical madrasas and government schools in the hearts and minds of a great many Pakistanis. Sounds a

As if these disagreements among Democrats wasn’t bad enough, public opinion is now turning against the bill.

little bit like this.

President Obama has called for a bill to be on his desk before Christmas—the latest in a series of deadline that are so far unmet. It is hard to see how Congress can meet this one either. The Senate has not yet received CBO scoring of its bill and is not prepared to even begin debate until next week at the earliest. That debate will last 3-4 weeks minimum, assuming there are 60 votes for cloture. That means, the bill cant’ go to conference committee until mid-December, even if everything breaks the way Harry Reid wants. Privately, Democrats are now suggesting late January, before the State of the Union address, is the best they can do.

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The Right to Speak in NonGovernment-Approved Ways [Cato at Liberty] NOV 09, 2009 08:43A.M. School officials denied student Pete Palmer the right to wear a shirt supporting John Edwards’s presidential campaign at his Dallas-area high school. They cited the district’s dress code, which prohibited messages on student clothing except for those that supported school activities or district-approved organizations, clubs or teams.

The fat lady can go back to sleep—this isn’t over yet.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed with the school district that this was a reasonable “time, place and manner” speech restriction. Applying the test from United States v. O’Brien, the court found that the dress code was content- and viewpoint-neutral, and served an important governmental purpose. Palmer now seeks Supreme Court review, citing seemingly contradictory precedents from the Second and Third Circuits and arguing that the regulation here flies in the face of the protection afforded to student speech by the famous case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. Cato, joined by the Institute for Justice, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the Christian Legal Society, and the National Association of Evangelicals, filed an amicus brief supporting Palmer’s petition and

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urging the continued use of Tinker. We argue that the Court should clarify its jurisprudence in this area to stop schools from applying broad restrictions in an attempt to avoid controversy and debate—and thereby threaten the very political and religious speech at the First Amendment’s core. To prevent the chilling of student speech, the Court should solidify Tinker’s central tenet, reaffirming that so long as speech doesn’t “materially and substantially disrupt” the educational process, students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” The case is Palmer v. Waxahachie Independent School District. The Court will be deciding early in 2010 whether to hear it.

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