In the spirit of the holiday I’ll stay away from the invective.
(1) Euphemism of the day: our University has hired “peace officers”. Our security staff alone is 123 people strong. My best guess is that the labor cost alone is over $10 million. Read the attached piece. Apparently the number of crimes on campus is not increasing.
(2) The sequester is almost 1 month in. Gosh it’s just killing this country.
(3) Go to a downtown area like Buffalo. There are acres and acres of abandoned property. Much is wasteland that is the scene from some post-apocalyptic movie. Who owns it?
(4) Are there any gay marriage supporters who are pointing out that this is only an issue because we have big, intrusive government?
(5) Question for the progressive paternalists out there: it’s pretty clear that you actually don’t like people like me. So why do you care if I do thinks that may “harm” me?
(6) Insurance does not equal care, episode #84789982 (did you know it’s illegal to “top off” Medicaid?).
(7) I see a lot of people go nuts at how stingy or greedy banks are. For example, people get angry that banks that issue mortgages actually require people to, you know, pay their mortgages. Do people understand that it is not the bank’s money that is being lent out? Sure a bank makes profits and pays expenses, but they are loaning out the funds from your neighbor’s checking account. Next time you hear someone bitch about making mortgage payments, ask them if they think it is OK to sneak into their neighbor’s house and burn some of their cash.
On #6, I’m convinced that it is only a matter of time before doctors are forced by law to accept Medicare patients. In fact I’m surprised it’s not already the case.
On #7:
“I have never understood why it is “greed” to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
― Thomas Sowell
Also, on #7, I still love the term “predatory borrowing.” 😉
“(4) Are there any gay marriage supporters who are pointing out that this is only an issue because we have big, intrusive government?”
Yes, actually. I’ve seen this come up a lot. The CBO counted over 1,000 federal laws alone that deal with marriage– anyone want to guess how many state laws there are? Hence, I roll my eyes when people like Rand Paul claim the whole problem will just go away if we replace the income tax with a flat tax. A marriage-neutral tax and legal code is an interesting ideal, but it’s just not gonna happen. Pigs will fly and we’ll get all of our energy from solar panels and wind farms first.
Let’s be tactful with the issue. It think it can be valuable to point out to liberals that discrimination can be an (un)intended consequence of big government, but let’s remember that the objection to institutionalized discrimination is not just about the material harms of the discrimination itself. Segregated water fountains didn’t really hurt people, but that’s not the point.