Tom Rants

when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Keep reading →

The American Academy of Pediatrics «is issuing a new policy statement calling on the government and manufacturers to implement a food labeling system warning parents» of the risk that their kids may choke on a hot dog. File this one under «cures worse than the disease».

Keep reading →

In the latest effort by the Obama administration to continue the worst policies of the Bush administration, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced increased tariffs on Chinese tires of an extra 35 percent in the first year, 30 percent in the second, and 25 percent in the third. The Bush steel tariffs of 2002 contributed mightily to the destruction of the US auto industry. Now instead of pursuing the sensible, pro-growth course of «removing all tariffs on their raw materials» and other inputs the Obama administration intends to add insult to the injury of the taxpayer bailout of GM and Chrysler with further tariffs on auto industry input. Look for the losses of the companies you now own to grow still larger and, if the Third Term policies continue, for Ford to end up on the dole yet.

Keep reading →

Every once in a while we get a stark example of how markets are simply much more efficient than government. The latest example: While Congress is being slammed for planning to spend $550 million for a handful of new jets, including $66 million a piece for three Gulfstream G550s with a sticker price of $49 million, Southwest Airlines has bid $170 million for over 80% of Frontier Airlines and all of commuter airline Lynx. Congress could still get in on the action though, as Southwest is only after Frontier's routes - the 40 Airbus jets will be retired over the next year and replaced with Southwest's signature 737's.

Keep reading →

Liberals (and, to be fair, some compassionate «conservatives») like to tout the value of youth service. Youth service at McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell or Wal-Mart is worth roughly $8 an hour, depending on location. Unwilling service at the point of a gun (Obama and Rangel's national service proposals) or service paid for by unwilling taxpayers at the point of a gun (Americorps) is worth the few cents it costs for bullets.

Keep reading →

According to AP reports, the CIA program about which Dick Cheney supposedly kept Congress in the dark was an effort to gain intelligence and carry out killings of Al Qaeda leaders at close range, rather than through air strikes that risked collateral damage. Congress wasn't informed because the program never got far enough to justify a briefing. That's the first real scandal, not that Congress wasn't informed but that such a common sense measure never got off the ground, probably due at least in part to the destruction of human intelligence networks during the 1990s.

Keep reading →

First they came for the heroin and crack addicts and I didn't speak up because I don't use heroin or crack.

Keep reading →

• The Obama administration has come out in favor of eliminating the disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine. Presumably this means lowering the penalty for the crack, what with the last two Presidents widely suspected of using the powder form and the current one an admitted former user. The real question is how something sold without harm in corner shops all over America without so much as a prescription until the early 20th century and that, apparently, doesn't disqualify holding the highest office in the land as either a Republican or Democrat merits any prison time at all.
  End the cocaine disparity
• Second, with appropriate apologies to Newt Gingrich, we ought to say flatly that if you enter the United States with the intention of committing mass murder, you will receive a tougher penalty than if you import a commercial quantity of illegal drugs, powdered or otherwise. But apparently, while importing drugs merits a death penalty under the old Gingrich plan, conspiring with al Qaeda terrorists in the days preceding the September 11 attacks merits «as many as 15 years in prison.» In Eric Holder's book, this «reflects what we can achieve when we have faith in our criminal justice system and are unwavering in our commitment to the values upon which this nation was founded and the rule of law.» Hearing that, I almost want that humble Texan that harassed John Ashcroft on his sickbed back figuring out how to get around that damned piece of paper for his boss. Almost.
  Marri Admits Conspiring With Al-Qaeda Operatives; Faces Up to 15 Years
• I haven't commented on the tea party phenomenon, mostly because I think it came three years too late. Still, it's interesting to see the embrace of the «tea party» movement by Republican leaders who last year were scared when the word «revolution» was uttered in reference to a conservative grassroots movement. I guess a revolution is out, but a tea party, well, that's just fun, right? Do these folks not know what happened two and a half years after the Boston Tea Party? Well, probably not. After all, to anyone who can't remember that in 1980 and 1994 «revolution» was a perfectly respectable word in Republican circles, 1776 really is ancient history. Of course, given the fact that those revolutions were largely betrayed from within, it's little wonder that the bigwigs are a bit nervous.
• A group of 20 Chrysler creditors may be doing us all a huge favor. Not the saving of a few piddling billion more taxpayer dollars going to Chrysler, but, with any luck, helping preserve one of the vital principles of the damned piece of paper - separation of powers. One of the lawyers, Tom Lauria, got right to the heart of the problem:
  

  I've never seen the President of the United States personally thrust himself into a bankruptcy case. The executive branch is going to be present in the court and it will really put pressure on the court to demonstrate to the people of this country that it's watching what's going on in an independent and unbiased way.

  
  
  
  

Keep reading →