A scene from the upcoming Atlas Shrugged movie.
They’re not going to pull any punches on the sanctimonious scum.
Yes, Marx Is Dead
But unfortunately, I disagree that the labor theory of value is. I wish that it were. It is, fundamentally, what the argument in Wisconsin (and really, the nation at large) is about. Isn’t, after all, one of the claims of the union workers that they deserve what they get because they work hard?
More Projection
…from the left: “It’s quite striking the way almost every lie the left ever told about the Tea Party has turned out to be true of the government unionists in Wisconsin and their supporters.”
Well, What Did He Expect?
The military is abandoning Colonel Gadhafy (how many ways are there to spell this homicidal lunatic’s name, anyway?):
The sources said Gadhafi could no longer rely on his military and much of his police. They said the remaining loyalists were his Presidential Guard and special units comprised of foreign mercenaries, many of whom are from the former Soviet Union.
I’ve never understood why, after decades of dictatorship, he never got around to promoting himself to general. No wonder they don’t respect him.
The Libyan No-Fly Zone
Another case made for it.
Oh, and just in case you were getting optimistic about the potential outcome from all the chaos in the Middle East, this might cure that.
Unions, Wages And Productivity
Some useful thoughts from Walter Russell Mead. It’s always interesting to note that, contra popular myth, the manufacturing sector is quite strong, just as agriculture is. They just don’t employ as many people as they used to. In both cases, this is a good thing.
Balance Of State Trade
So, Illinois is sitting pretty. It’s chasing out all of those annoying whiny greedy businesses to Wisconsin and Indiana, due to its rapacious tax and spending policies, but that’s not the best part. It’s now importing cowardly and corrupt Democrat politicians from both those states, on the off chance that its home-grown supply runs dry. It’s a win-win!
I disagree, though, that this is the right Monty Python reference. It’s this one.
Wisconsin “Liberals”
…as reactionaries. And it’s not just in Wisconsin, and they were never liberals.
[Update early afternoon]
Barack Obama, our reactionary president. And the reactionaries in Wisconsin worship Gaylord Nelson.
As a complete aside, I wonder if anyone is naming their kid “Gaylord” (“Gay Lord,” get it?) today.
A Doctor Weighs In On Wisconsin
Note, not a lot of love for the union extortionists in comments.
[Update later morning]
In Wisconsin, it’s the unions versus the people.
Christchurch
Things sound pretty bad there, from the reports I’m reading. Usually these things hit in lesser-developed countries, and in the US, we could probably take a hit that big, at least in the west, with relatively few fatalities, because we’ve long had building codes for it, but it sounds like there was a lot of unreinforced masonry in the town, and the epicenter was very close.
But people on the east coast should be aware that it could be just as bad if one hits there, and while it happens a lot less often than in California, it can still happen.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Here’s an interesting animated map showing all of the temblors today, most of which were aftershocks, and big ones. It looks like it’s on the Greendale fault.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s all the coverage at the New Zealand Herald.
[Update about 10 PM PST]
CNN is reporting at least sixty five dead. I suspect the toll is going to be quite a bit higher when they clear the rubble.