Equal time

Just to show I'm not picking on any one group, the enlightened voters of Arkansas voted overwhelimingly that kids are better off in an orphanage than being adopted by gays.

Hat tip: Balko at Reason

The first (of many) unintended consequences

High Black voter turnout hurt gay marriage.

Go figure.

(As an aside, my stance on gay marriage can be quickly summed up by "who cares?". I don't think the state should have any standing in any contract between two people other than to deal with violations of that contract. My marriage is between my wife and me, I don't see why I need permission from the goverment to enter into that contract. If my neighbors Jim and Mark want to get married, I certainly don't care one way or the other. Of course, this issue is exacerbated due to government welfare programs, primarily Social Security, where marriage has a benefit.)

Election hangover

Well, I'm glad that's over.

I was thinking yesterday while driving that I guess it could be worse, but I'm really not sure that's the case. As a Libertarian, this Presidential race came down to an expansion of the welfare state vs an expansion of the warfare state. Welfare won. Great.

For the country, I honestly don't know if Obama's better, but he might be. Personally, there's no doubt I'm a big loser. My tax rates will go up, probably significantly, in 2010. Thing is, if you pay taxes, yours will, too, The One just didn't tell you that. Expansion and creation of social programs is always a net loss for me, because I am unfairly wealthy (after I unfairly went to grad school at night and unfairly worked my ass off).

Although he's so enlightened and powerful and good, maybe he'll cure cancer. He pretty much promised everything but.

One thing I did notice, with all the talk about 'Change' (there's another post about how Obama isn't anything close to 'change' sometime); Congress has an 18% approval rating, yet we reelected most of them.

Good job, America!

Change

Barak Obama will absolutley not use the full force of government to curtail free spech, in direct opposition to the current Administration. This is Change. We promise.

The Obama campaign disputes the accuracy of the advertisement, which is fine. It has also threatened regulatory retaliation against outlets that show it, which isn't fine. Instead of, say, crafting a response ad, Obama's team had general counsel Robert F. Bauer send stations a letter [pdf] arguing that "Failure to prevent the airing of 'false and misleading advertising may be 'probative of an underlying abdication of licensee responsibility.'" And, more directly: "For the sake of both FCC licensing requirements and the public interest, your station should refuse to continue to air this advertisement."

Yahoo!

I guess I'm not patriotic

Biden says it's patriotic to take money by force from rich people and give it to other people.

In an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Biden said wealthier taxpayers would indeed pay more under the proposals of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Under his plan, people earning more than $250,000 a year would pay more in taxes while those earning less — the vast majority of American taxpayers — would receive a tax cut.

"We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people," Biden said. Of those who would pay more, he said: "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut."

I think he's confused about what 'patriots' are. He's the idiot of the day.

Wretched

Honest to goodness, I don't see how anyone can vote for Obama after watching this. Horrid. I'm embarrassed for those involved, really.




Via Hit and Run

Gas Prices and Economic Ignorance

Radley Balko on the candidates and Economic ignorance.

The fun is just beginning

Obama says poor people are too stupid to have credit cards, and it's the banks' fault.

Illinois Sen. Obama, on a two-week tour focusing on problems in the U.S. economy, held a round-table discussion with three people who have seen their credit card debt skyrocket due to a relentless cycle of interest rate increases and fees.

"For too long, credit card companies have been using unfair and deceptive practices to trick Americans into signing agreements they can't afford," Obama said.

Americans have an obsession with credit cards, often using plastic in place of cash, and are encouraged by the credit card companies to use to them to buy not just big-ticket items but on everyday items like gasoline and groceries.

As a consequence, many people owe thousands of dollars in credit card debt and are only able to make the monthly minimum payment, leaving the balance in place for a long time.

Where I come from, that's called spending money you don't have. But these poor people are clearly too stupid, so we will punish those mean old banks.

End result? Less available credit for poor people.

Is there an issue in this country with people living above their means? Yes - but it's an issue of education, not access to credit.