Innocent Bystanders

Presidential Candidates: Burning Question of the Day January 31, 2014

Rick Santorum: Similarity of name to Rick Santelli an advantage or a handicap?

Discuss.

Economic Stimulus the Old-Fashioned Way January 31, 2014

…where by “old-fashioned way” I mean “letting businesses operate without excessive and nonsensical regulation.”

Amazingly enough, today’s example of deregulation comes from California. In a freakish display of common sense, the State passed a law last year permitting “cottage food,” i.e., production and sale of food made in people’s homes.

As was the case when they legalized home beer making, an explosion of business ensued:

In Los Angeles County, there are almost 270 cottage food businesses. Statewide, over 1,200 homemade food businesses have been approved.

There you go: make doing business easier, and business expands. A simple truth, but one apparently hidden from our Executive Branch.

Murmuratin’ Starlings January 24, 2014

This is old (like more than 3 years old), but I hadn’t seen it. Michael will probably dig up a previous post on it, but I’m going to forge ahead with all the false confidence ignorance can provide.

Takes 20 or 30 seconds to get going, but after that it’s pretty incredible.

Abortion Barbie Doubles Down January 22, 2014

You’ve got to hand it to Wendy Davis, when she comes up with a story, she sticks with it.

My favorite part about the story isn’t that she’s a liar – heck, she’s a politician, that’s what they do.  My favorite part is actually this tweet by Jon Gabriel: “Wendy Davis needs a man like a fish needs a rich bicycle that will pay its way through fish law school and take full custody of its spawn.”

But my favorite part that actually comes from Wendy Davis is the part where she asserts she’ll be good for Texas because of her motherhood – even though she willingly abandoned her kids to further her political career.  Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, yo, and sometimes that sacrifice has to involve not caring about your own children.

And in that spirit, I’ve decided to solve the nation’s drug problem by using all the drugs myself, so no one else can use them.  I realize this will be kind of tough on my body, but I have a vision, and a commitment to a righteous cause.

One anticipated side effect is that after I consume all the drugs there are, I might finally understand how liberals think.

HP Goes Retro With Their Windows Offerings January 21, 2014

Delighted to see that HP has acknowledged the large market segment that loathes Windows 8:

Windows 7 is “back by popular demand”, according to HP, the world’s second-largest maker of PCs, which has begun offering the previous generation of Microsoft’s operating system to US customers via email flyers.

Against a backdrop where consumers, who buy about half of all PCs, have been equivocal about Windows 8’s tiled interface since its launch in October 2012, HP has begun trying to boost sales by offering people what they are more familiar with: the desktop interface of Windows 7.

Hey Microsoft! Your “blend all user interfaces into one crappy package” strategy? It is teh suck.

Japanese Racism? Much Ado About Nothing. January 20, 2014

Those Japanese are being all racist and stuff:

In the commercial, two Japanese men in ANA uniform discuss in English how they might boost the image of the airline as an international carrier.

One of them says: “Let’s change the image of Japanese people.” “Sure,” replies the other, who is now wearing a blonde wig and an improbably long rubber nose.

White westerners are often believed in Japan to have big noses, blue eyes and blonde hair, characteristics generally thought desirable among Japanese.

This has caused the typical commotion among the PC police. I dunno – maybe because I’m terminally tainted by White Privilege – but this doesn’t bother me in the least. I find their joke mildly amusing and think it’s pretty healthy that people can make light of racial differences.

In the end, I think the path to racial harmony has to involve humor and some thickening of skin.

Increasing Crime Rates in 2012 January 13, 2014

Last year we pointed out that after a long period of decline in violent crime, 2010 showed the first increase in crime. I’m none too happy to tell you that 2011 and 2012 continued that increase, as you can see from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ own chart:

Property crime in 2012 increased by 15% as well. So huzzah for the President and his administration, who have made America less safe at home and abroad in an incredibly short period of time.

How to Cut Airplane Boarding Times in Half January 12, 2014

Load passengers from the rear, have them debark from the front.

It’s just that simple.

The Inexorable Breaking of the Manufacturing Jobs Promise (through Dec 2013) January 11, 2014

Watching the President break his promises in slow motion is painful and tries our patience. But it is our sad duty.

So that “1 million manufacturing jobs in 4 years promise,” – how’s that doing?

I know these charts all look the same, but it’s not my fault. There’s always a positive trend, the President then capitalizes on the trend by saying that continuing the trend is part of his economic plan. And then as soon as he makes the promise (which was irresponsible to make since he had no power to keep it), the trend stops.

Sorry, manufacturing guys – in 15 months only 103K manufacturing jobs have been created, rather than the 312.5K we needed to stay on track for that 1 million number.

The December 2013 Employment Situation Report January 10, 2014

I haven’t checked, but I’m sure the MSM is abuzz over the drop in unemployment rate below 7%. 6.7%!! It would be very heartening if that statistic had any meaning these days.

Let’s take a look at the statistic that I do find meaningful: full-time employment (from the Household Survey) divided by the civilian non-institutional population. This stat captures the real health of the job market as well as the effect of people dropping out of the employment pool. What does my favorite stat look like?

Virtually no change from last month and we actually haven’t quite made it back to May’s value, so the job situation really hasn’t improved over the past 7 months. Which is about how it feels, at least to me.