Twitter highlights

I haven't updated the recent goings-on over on Twitter (@CrimsonCavalier) lately, so here's a quick batch of highlights from the first couple of weeks of 2012.

I left out a bunch of sports-related posts (there's been a lot, what with the NFL Playoffs and the college football bowl games going on), but I left in the posts about Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, because I really do admire his difficult decision on Ryan Clark, which ultimately (arguably) cost his team a playoff win.

• It says a lot about America that we can rise up to kill a $2 fee (http://on.wsj.com/z9m5p4), but not an assault on our basic rights (NDAA).
• This also says a lot about America--not sure this time if it's good or bad. http://bit.ly/tBJP0y Jon Stewart's ratings win...
• Not a Steelers fan by any means, but I give Mike Tomlin huge credit for making a controversial (but correct) choice. http://deadsp.in/x3Ze4i 
• Disgusting. RT @killagroove: #Paypal orders the destruction of $2500 Violin because they are giant colossal douches http://bit.ly/zDr9Di 
• Congratulations to Mittens Romney on his slim Iowa victory last night. http://bit.ly/yGD7x2 
• Strangest Xmas season ever: retailers cut prices to below break-even http://bloom.bg/zTA0s0, and everyone bought guns: http://tgr.ph/ufWbG9 
• Congressional scrutiny on ratings agencies re. MF Global probably unrelated to that li'l downgrade back in Aug, right? http://tgr.ph/ufWbG9 
• Now that I know that she's not going to further destroy my country, I am really going to miss Michele Bachmann http://huff.to/zrDfxe 
• Now THIS... is a creepy headline: http://bit.ly/szInqW You win, China. You win.
• It's January 6th, it's 67 degrees outside, and ski resorts are closing all over the place. http://bit.ly/xk3KcV This is all totally normal.
• Germans... crack me up every time. http://bit.ly/wtAjoS 
• 10 completions for 316 yards, no way that happens if @RealRClark25 is out there. So, props to Mike Tomlin for the difficult decision.
• This is possibly the saddest thing I've ever seen... http://deadsp.in/xlPoB6 Tragic that these clowns are the best we can come up with.
• I've had my share of Mountain Dew over the years, and... gross. http://bit.ly/vIY6da 
• Siri doubles iPhone data usage rates. http://bloom.bg/x7OWED That's pretty untenable. Way too much data usage for a specious benefit.
• Bahahahaha... http://bit.ly/xK3F8x Nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrds!!
• Andrew Napolitano kills it on TDS: http://bit.ly/x1XlQo If Ron Paul is "Libertarian", then I don't know what "Conservatism" is anymore.
• Seems like everyone's passing this around, so sure, I'll bite: Mafia is now Italy's largest bank. http://reut.rs/wvnTQC Appropriate, really.
• Each day, there's more rejection of the established two parties: http://bit.ly/wHxIqf Paul should follow suit and reject the GOP, run Indep.

You might be noticing that I'm posting more and more about Ron Paul lately. That's no accident. I support his candidacy unabashedly as a rejection of the two parties as they currently exist. Whether or not he can win, I think his (remarkably consistent) views raise an important counterpoint to the parties (and the politics) that have devastated our nation over the past three decades.

A vote for Romney or a vote for Obama are realistically no different, as they both support a continuation of the two-party politics as they currently exist. A vote for Ron Paul is something else entirely. And that's what we really need now, more than anything--something else.

Clip of the Week

I was really tempted to just go ahead and post the beluga whale up here again, if only because the market's melting down again and he just looks so damned happy. But predictability's no fun, so I passed on that idea and then considered posting video of the Red Sox' turning of a triple play against the Rays earlier this week (because those don't come along very often), but the Sox ended up losing that game and that makes it less cool--at least from my perspective.

So, no beluga whales, no baseball clips, what have we got left? Well, in my Michele Bachmann rant earlier, I promised you all more Ron Paul, so here you have it. Despite nearly winning the Iowa straw poll last week, Paul can't seem to get any love from the mainstream media, despite the fact that he has consistently stood for the very libertarian principles that the Tea Party claims to care about (as opposed to what they actually vote for, which is a different story).

No, people would rather cover the ranting sound bites of Bachmann and Sarah Palin than talk about old Ron Paul, a dynamic that's covered at length over at the Big Picture blog (yes, I'm outsourcing that rant to somebody else--I've done enough here for one day). And Jon Stewart, for one, thinks it's a little silly. Have at it, Jon.

The Daily Show - Indecision 2012 - Corn Polled Edition - Ron Paul & the Top Tier
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Budget-initiated moral relativism

In case my jargon-y headline threw you off, this post is an update on an old theme, namely the one I first mentioned here, in "On budget woes and value systems".

It's been a little while since I wrote about the growing "trend" (for lack of a better word) toward the decriminalization of marijuana. It began in California with Prop 19 (which ultimately failed), gained traction with now ex-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's passage of Senate Bill 1449 (which, like a previous Massachusetts law, decriminalized possession of small amounts of the drug), then gained international attention this month when an interesting crew of individuals declared the War on Drugs a "failure".

Now, it seems that Congress has responded to the international criticism, with the unlikely duo of Ron Paul and Barney Frank (who have in fact teamed up on multiple occasions before) introducing legislation this week that would effectively decriminalize marijuana use at the federal level.

A group of US representatives plan to introduce legislation that will legalize marijuana and allow states to legislate its use, pro-marijuana groups said Wednesday.

The legislation would limit the federal government's role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, and allow people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal.

The bill, which is expected to be introduced on Thursday by Republican Representative Ron Paul and Democratic Representative Barney Frank, would be the first ever legislation designed to end the federal ban on marijuana.

Sixteen of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

But planting, selling or commercially distributing marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Regardless of your feelings on marijuana usage (Karl Denninger, who tipped me off to this article, has fairly strong opinions on the matter), this legislation is consistent with the traditional view of states' rights trumping federal control, a dynamic that has been steadily fading in recent decades.

But lest you think that this bill represents a shift away from Washington-based paternalism, rest assured that the timing of this bill's introduction means that budgetary concerns--and not political ideologies--are likely foremost in this discussion.

When financial times are tough, we are often forced to reconsider what we really want our federal government to be doing with our tax dollars. While we may not like the idea of a nation full of pot-smokers, we simply can't afford to continue legislating and fighting it the way we have--this, incidentally, is exactly what killed Prohibition back in the 1930s.

Recessions and budget crises have a way of revealing a society's true values in a way that is often impossible in boom times. It will be interesting to see how this bill is received in Congress, and I'll be sure to update you all if and when any news breaks. My guess is that we're not quite ready to pass this type of bill, but I've been surprised before.

[Yahoo!]  
(h/t Karl Denninger)

New York Times on Ron Paul

There's an interesting article by Floyd Norris in today's New York Times about Ron Paul and his upcoming chairmanship of the House Monetary Policy Subcommittee, which I previously wrote about here. It's an interesting and important read, and I suggest you give it a look if you have the time.

The article does a fantastic job not only of laying out the history of the Fed and its relationship with the Federal Government at large, but also of setting up the imminent debate between Ron Paul and Ben Bernanke. I personally think that this debate/showdown will be one of the most important stories to watch in 2011, as the Fed's seemingly unchecked power comes under ever further scrutiny.

A congressman from Texas, long a dissident critic of the Federal Reserve, is scheduled to become the chairman of a House panel with jurisdiction over the central bank. It promises to be a miserable time for the Fed chairman as he is peppered with hostile questions at oversight hearings and with legislation to force complete audits of Fed operations.

So it is now, with Representative Ron Paul about to take over as chairman of the Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee. Mr. Paul campaigned against big banks, arguing that concentrated financial power goes hand in hand with concentrated political power.

If the Fed were abolished, he wrote last year, “the national wealth would no longer be hostage to the whims of a handful of appointed bureaucrats whose interests are equally divided between serving the banking cartel and serving the most powerful politicians in Washington.”

It is not hard to imagine Mr. Paul lecturing the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in a committee room: “You can absolutely veto everything the president does. You have the power to veto what the Congress does, and the fact is that you have done it. You are going too far.”

And so it was back in 1964, when that lecture was actually given by the then-new chairman of the House Banking Committee, a Texas congressman named Wright Patman. As Time magazine then wrote: “For three decades, Wright Patman has fumed and fussed that the Federal Reserve system is too secretive, too independent, too insensitive to the hopes of small borrowers. A sharecropper’s son, he often charges that it is a tool of Wall Street bankers.”

A joke during Mr. Patman’s tenure was that the reason he chose a bright red carpet for his office was to hide the blood stains after William McChesney Martin Jr., then the Fed chairman, emerged from private meetings.

The apparent cyclicality of American history and politics is certainly eye-opening; what's even more notable is that even when faced with certain obvious truths, we can be painlessly slow to do anything about them.

The Fed's power has grown incrementally over a period of decades, so gradually as to be imperceptible to most citizens (especially those who do not pay close attention to finance and the markets). But as is often the case, the public seems to be waking up rather suddenly to the truth of the matter--that the Fed has become significantly more powerful than the elected officials we obsess over daily, without being subject to any of the same Constitutional checks and balances.

Time will tell if the Paul/Bernanke debate creates the lasting change that I believe we need (or at least a wider conversation about the role of the Fed), or if it becomes a mere footnote in American history like the Patman/Martin battle decades ago. It is my sincere hope that the former is the case.


[New York Times]

Caving with a link dump

I usually hate when blogs do "link dumps" (lists of links to other pages) because it's not real blogging--it's just being a content aggregator like Google Reader, and that's not the point of writing a blog. Anyone can do that. But for some reason, today I seem to be sitting on way more interesting stories than usual, and I can't write full posts on all of them.

So rather than let many of them fall by the wayside, I figured on a compromise--4 or 5 mini-posts all in one. I'll post the links, along with a short commentary teeing up what I see as the main issues or takeaways. You won't have to actually click the link and read the article in order to get the basic point, unless you choose to. I don't intend to do this often, but when there's enough good stories out there, I think it's warranted. Enjoy.

Ron Paul Claims Chairmanship of Monetary Policy Subcommittee, Prepared to Subpoena Fed
Mike Shedlock; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish writes that Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) will almost certainly take over the role of Chairman on the Monetary Policy Subcommittee. You already know that I've been a very outspoken critic of Fed policy, and Congressman Paul has been one of the only politicians to similarly take aim at Ben Bernanke and his seemingly unchecked power.

The Fed has grown into a behemoth, and it has unquestionably become a stealth fourth branch of our federal government, despite being an "independent" organization. Its powers with respect to our currency effectively represent an acquired ability to tax and spend citizens' money (a devalued dollar is nothing if not a tax on citizens in different clothes), with little oversight. Since the Fed derives all of its power from a Congressional mandate, the Monetary Policy Subcommittee is of vital importance from an oversight perspective. It is my sincere hope that Ron Paul will be able to lend some sanity to the debate, so that we can at least begin to recognize the Fed for what it has become--that is, an all-too-powerful organization that does not answer to voters or taxpayers.

Hackers Give Web Companies a Test of Free Speech
Ashlee Vance & Miguel Helft; New York Times

This is a very interesting development and probably deserves its own post, but I'm in link dump mode right now--so be it. As a response to Visa, Mastercard, and Paypal's decision to cut off avenues of funding to Wikileaks (a response to significant political pressure), an anonymous army of hackers has essentially declared cyberwar on the offending parties. Articles are everywhere about this, and the story seems to be gaining amazing traction--the Wikileaks issue appears to have sparked a powder keg, and the implications for government policy (and the way that citizens and government interact with each other) could be far-reaching.

This bears watching, as it's a very interesting method for (a certain group of) people to fight back against corporations and institutions that they feel have wronged them. Corporations and individuals alike have become dependent on technology and the internet, despite limited knowledge of the infrastructure that makes these vehicles work. The people who do know the infrastructure are in possession of more power than we might like to admit, and they could have incredible political clout if they are willing to harness it.

This incident (and the fallout from it) could be either transformative or dangerous or both for the American people, but I don't think its importance can be understated. For a populace that has increasingly felt that its voice is not being heard, this is certainly one way to get your voice heard. Very interesting.

Food Stamps by State, Not a Pretty Picture
Tim Iacono; The Mess That Greenspan Made

Tim links to this report from the Wall Street Journal, which shows food stamp usage by state. It's ugly. The national percentage of people on food stamps (sorry, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: SNAP, isn't that catchy?) continues to soar to record highs, now standing at 14% nationwide. The Journal shows that two states (and Washington D.C.) now have usage rates exceeding 20%, which is terrifying.

You can't spend your way out of a problem like this, not with labor force participation rates continuing to plummet. Eventually, there won't be enough people working to subsidize those who are not. Dollar debasement strategies only add to this problem, as I've noted before that inflation (and especially inflation in food costs that this strategy has created) hits poor people the hardest. Current policies are making the food stamp dynamic worse, not better. This is what our Fed policy has wrought.

An international report card: Shanghai's school students out-perform all others
The Economist's Daily Chart

The chart is worth looking at, so I included a quick thumbnail of it. Many of the nations who are outperforming us in terms of primary education are unsurprising (China, Singapore, South Korea), but some of them are definitely a bit of a shock (Canada, Poland). Of course, I definitely don't support relying on catch-all metrics of "academic achievement", so I take these charts with a larger than usual grain of salt. But one way or another, our education system needs help. Even by standard metrics, we're falling behind, and I've argued here before that what we really need are new metrics and a new approach entirely.

Teens Becoming Pregnant to Get on "Teen Mom"?
Rob Shuter; Popeater.com (h/t Shuckstaposition blog)

Ugh. Just...ugh. This is one of those things that just makes me want to shake my head, shrug my shoulders, and say "America is dying". There's just no positive way to spin this.

It used to be that reality TV just exposed (and glorified) bad behavior and bad people. That was bad enough. Now, because of the cult of celebrity that our society has created, reality TV is actually adding to the problem, as indicated by the revelation that teenagers are actively trying to get pregnant so that they can be on reality TV shows. Maybe this was inevitable. I don't know. But it's not good.