Progress In Peril
— LauraW

It's not hyperbole to assert that when the practice of capitalizing new ideas is suppressed, the future - innovation, technological growth, progress itself- is threatened.

Scott S. Powell turns over a few possible reasons why the Obama administration suggested that venture capital firms needed to be regulated.

You really should read the reasons he discards before he settles on this:

The third and most plausible answer is the administration's distrust of venture capitalists is simply an extension of its antipathy toward the free market. It suspects that venture capital seeks economic returns over political ends and will not direct enough funding to politically favored sectors — particularly after recent disappointments with clean-tech investments in fuel cells and ethanol. Regulating VCs is an indirect but very real means of forcing alignment with the political objectives of the administration.

Emphasis me.
I would add to that somewhat. It's easier to crush a seed than pull down a tree.

There's a possibility that a man with no real business experience or accomplishments gets a psychological kick out of kneecapping potentially successful entrepreneurs. Preventing people from choosing political concerns over financial ones (that's, um, stupid) is a win-win for him.

And of course, if you're going to cripple an economy, you have to make sure it can't get back up.

I'll guess 'evil' over 'stupid' in this case, because how new ventures drive this country (and improve our lives in a million unforeseen ways) is a rather easy concept to grasp.

However; conceiving of a way that venture capitalization harms the economy, as Mr. Obama asserts, requires some fanciful brainstorming.

ANY regulating, stifling or obstructing the funding of new ventures will be (yet another) direct attack on the standard of living of your descendants.

One can hardly devise a better attack on the economic and technological supremacy of the United States than to strangle innovation while it's still in the crib.

This is an ominous threat indeed. Please write your congresscritters.

Posted by: LauraW at 06:11 AM | Comments (2)
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Top Headline Comments 04-22-09
— Gabriel Malor

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:14 AM | Add Comment
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BREAKING: Acting CFO of Freddie Mac found dead at his home, apparently of suicide. More to come.
— Open Blog

"Anonymous" Posts the AP story in the comments and FNC just picked it up on their morning show. CNN also has it with a link to a local station here for additional details.

Not much info yet regarding the reason (i.e. personal or professional), but I don't think the markets are going to be very pleased or reassured with this story

Posted by: Open Blog at 03:13 AM | Comments (8)
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Overnight Open Thread: Ministry of Silly Links (genghis)
— Open Blog

For some reason all the lace wig spam has disappeared. I blame all of you for not buying more of them. Now all we get is boring shoe spam. If the wigs come back remember this new requirement: “The morons get lace wigs!”

Item#1: More nanny state for you: Under a proposal by NYC councilnag Eric N. Gioia, new fast-food joints would be prohibited from opening within 1/10th of a mile from schools. (sorry, link is to the NYT, but youÂ’ll live. Content squished to save space as always)

”Just in from the department of not-so-surprising news: a study has found that young teenagers tend to be fatter when there are fast-food restaurants within one block of their schools. The report found an increased obesity rate of at least 5.2 percent among teenagers at schools where fast-food outlets were a tenth of a mile — roughly one city block — or less away. To remedy that, Eric N. Gioia, a city councilman from Queens, wants to stop fast-food restaurants from opening so close to the city’s schools.“With the proliferation of fast-food restaurants directly around schools, it’s a clear and present danger to our children’s health,” said Mr. Gioia, who proposed the ban at a news conference at a school opposite a McDonald’s in TriBeCa on Sunday.”

I haven’t read the actual proposal, but you can call practically anything a school (beauty school for instance), so I wonder what the parameters are. Lot’s of fun hyperbole in the article. Thanks to Barry who’s also penned a nice piece of satire at “Room Eight” titled A trip to New York City’s Culinary Red Light District.

Item #2: I posted a thing about the “myths of Columbine” a couple of days ago, but CNN has weighed in with an article of their own. Due to the previous post, it’s a little redundant, but the opening is irritating:

(CNN) – “What do you remember about April 20, 1999? If you recall that two unpopular teenage boys from the Trench Coat Mafia sought revenge against the jocks by shooting up Columbine High School, you're wrong. But you're not alone.”

Well if we’re wrong, I wonder how that could’ve happened? Could it be that for days on end after the massacre we were subjected to endless stories, panel discussions, interviews etc. that did nothing but reinforce the “bullied kids” theme” along with several others that have also turned out to be wrong? (Or to paraphrase a line from “Animal House:” Forget it man, he’s on a narrative.”)

More mayhem and hijinks (including tonightÂ’s freakish animal sponsor) below the fold:
more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:34 PM | Add Comment
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Noted Fan of the Feminine Form Perez Hilton Says He Wants Beauty Pageant Contestants to Dodge His Questions
I Wish I'd Called Her C--- Rather Than a B----, Hilton Regrets
— Ace

He claims the answer he wanted to hear was "I'm going to leave my politics out of it and just say each state should decide," but that is nonsense. The answer he would have liked far more is "I support gay marriage," so he's claiming that only one answer is "divisive" and must be dishonestly massaged into vague meaninglessness.

As Allah notes, this is actually good for gay marriage opponents, as the public now gets a good look at the the nasty and ruthless tactics deployed by some gay marriage fanatics.

It's pretty clear why he asked this particular girl the question -- she's a Christian. So he already had some animus against her; he was, in his mind, giving her the opportunity to recant and, like Meghan McCain, reassure him that she wasn't like "all those other bad Christians."

The same question could have been asked of any contestant, with similar damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't results; but he singled out the Christian girl for the perilous question.

As he says, slipping a bit as he accidentally offers a candid opinion, he didn't want to hear "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" from a contestant, as that's "uninclusive" and, actually, "offensive."

And thus a new prerequisite is imposed on would-be pageant winners: They must be either agnostic or vague in their religious believes. They are simply not allowed to have any belief that might "offend" a part of the population. And that part of the population is, of course, the secular transnational left. They are pushing their long-held veto on what is acceptable in the media or public to even greater extremes.

Correction: Readers tell me that it was determined randomly which judge would ask them a question. So it seems (I think) that my claim that he singed the Christian girl out is wrong.

Certainly, however, he came at her with a special animus.

"Dumb Bitch" Was too Good for Her: Vid of Hilton expressing his only regret.

Posted by: Ace at 01:57 PM | Add Comment
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Meghan McCain Raps "Creepy" Karl Rove for His Substance-Free Tweets
— Ace

But she posts this, full of substance.

She's referring, certainly, to the new Eminem video in which he's "nailin'" Sarah Palin. Or a look-alike, at least.

Now, whether she likes it or not, she has a polite relationship with Ms. Palin. Like family, she didn't choose to have this relationship -- it was forced on her -- and yet it exists.

But here she is promoting a video which degrades Palin in a nasty way.

If she likes Eminem, fine. We can't aways calibrate our tastes and wants to agree with what we should like.

But does she have to actively promote him and give him the eighth-grade multiple-exclamation-mark of girlishly gushing approval?

For some strange reason, I have my doubts about Meghan McCain's claim that she wishes to help the Republican Party succeed.

Posted by: Ace at 12:52 PM | Add Comment
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Andrew Sullivan Crafts New Definition of Torture, This One Involving Souls or Somethin'
— Ace

Safe link to Tom Maguire.

It is to subject captives to such levels of physical or mental pain or suffering that they "have reached the limit of their ability to withhold [information] in the face of psychological and physical hardship." This is, in fact, as close to a definition of torture as you are likely to find.

Rule One: Any coercive technique that actually works is therefore torture.

This seems a contradiction from her latest claim that these "torture never works;" now we learn that only actual torture works, because the moment a threat or the withholding of privileges and comforts is successful in extracting information, it becomes torture.

It must be torture -- after all, it elicited life-saving information!

From torture never works to if it works it must be torture. And this is one of the more minor "Forget what I've been writing for the past six years" sudden reversals of Sullivan's.

And then... we also have to start worrying about souls 'n shit.

Zubaydah understood that torture is the imposition of sufficient physical or psychological pain or suffering to cause even religious fanatics, who believe their very souls are at stake, to have no choice but to submit.

We already had to worry about physical injury and mental harm. But Sullivan has opened the discussion up now to include spiritual wellness as well.

One last little thing: Sullivan's new "protect the soul" imperative seems crafted specifically to give additional protections to religious-fanatic terrorists and not non-religious-fanatic terrorists, like, say, Tim McVeigh. Tim McVeigh had a lot of crazy beliefs and a head full of bad chemicals, but these were mere "mindthoughts," rather than the "soulpatterns" of Al Qaeda fanatics that Sullivan now deems it imperative we guard from all possible harm.

The cross-dressing crazy aunt of the Internet has really gone around the bend.

Thanks to DrewM. and someone.

Posted by: Ace at 12:08 PM | Add Comment
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More Taxes: Obama and Democrats to End Tax-Free Internet Shopping
— Ace

The monkey needs to be fed. (Um, this is an addiction metaphor, not an "Obama is a monkey" joke, shit-for-brains leftwing trolls.)

Now Congress and Obama have their eyes on the Internet to help fund more government spending — because most U.S. States are pushing for the new tax rules that require federal oversight — and Washington is ready and willing to help. Congress is expected to introduce a bill this week that would require Amazon.com, L.L. Bean, eBay, Cabela’s and other online merchants to collect sales tax on all online purchases and return that money to the state in which the purchaser resides — which may force business that make sales online to abide by the tax laws maintained by each and every state.

The new bill rewrites the ground rules for mail order and Internet sales by eliminating what its supporters view as a “loophole” that, in many cases, allows Americans to shop over the Internet without paying sales taxes.

Currently, Americans who shop over the Internet from out-of-state vendors arenÂ’t always required to pay sales taxes at the time of purchase. Californians buying books from Amazon.com or cameras from ManhattanÂ’s B&H Photo, for example, wonÂ’t pay sales taxes at checkout time that they would if shopping at a local mall because their headquarters are located out-of-state.

“We will have the bill ready for introduction by next Monday,” said Neal Osten of the National Conference of State Legislatures. “We finalized the language and now we’re working out the remaining issues and adding some new provisions at the request of various stakeholders.”

But, you know, President Obama promised that you, the middle-class taxpayer making less than $250,000, would not pay "a single dime" in additional taxes of any kind -- not just income taxes. He spoke of any and all taxes.

In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. But let me perfectly clear, because I know youÂ’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.

Hey Middle Class -- How Obama's ass taste?

Posted by: Ace at 11:36 AM | Add Comment
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Awesome: Air America Host and Radical Lawyer Ron Kuby May Defend Captured Somali Pirate
— Ace

Because it's the right thing to do or something.

"I think there's a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas," said Kuby. "This man seemed to come on to the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age."

Huh! He came under a flag of truce to negotiate. Well, that changes everything.

God knows pirates are very candid about their intentions and attacks.

Posted by: Ace at 11:19 AM | Comments (12)
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Paranoia, and Reaper UAVs, May Destroy Ya, But Mostly the Reaper UAVs
— Ace

Decapitating strikes.

This is a read-the-whole thing piece. The spectacular parts are about the Reaper kills, but the more important part is about the grind of intelligence collection that leads to the kills.

Since you're morons, I'll quote the part about the kills.

Uncertainty is a powerful weapon. In the Pakistani tribal territories, near the Afghan border, Taliban and al Qaeda leaders continue a seemingly futile hunt for the spies who are telling the Americans where the big shots are. In less than a year, over 40 Hellfire missiles, launched from Predator and Reaper UAVs, have wiped out a large (about a third) chunk of the terrorist leadership. In the trade, this is known as a "decapitation" (just kill the leadership) strategy.

In response, the Taliban (whose leaders are now being targeted at well) and al Qaeda have seized and executed over a hundred local men (and a few women), for being American spies. Most of these victims were innocent. They were just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and looked suspicious to the wrong people. Some of those killed may have been spies, but most likely for other tribes, or Pakistani or Afghan intelligence services.

...

One of the more powerful intelligence tools are databases and data mining software. The U.S. has been collecting information on the tribes (in general, as well as individuals) for decades, and has acquired and developed software that can sort out who is who, and who is out to get to who, in the tribal territories. .... The data mining software is also culturally aware, with special filters for different tribes and cultures (the Arab tribes of Anbar don't play by the same rules as the Pushtun tribes of Waziristan).

That part sounds a little bullshitty to me, but it's interesting, even if it's complete disinformation.

Thanks again to ArthurK.

Posted by: Ace at 11:14 AM | Add Comment
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