The Most Ridiculous Bill I've Seen All Year... -
Illinois SB1614:
Creates the Internet Posting Removal Act. Provides that a web site administrator shall, upon request, remove any posted comments posted by an anonymous poster unless the anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home address are accurate. Effective 90 days after becoming law.
Never Go Full Keynesian
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The Daily Show piece “investigating investigative journalism” is humorous and depressing.
Media analyst Brad Adgate says investigative journalism is no longer a profit center. I’m sure that’s true when, in CNN’s case, you pay for journalists to risk their lives in oppressed countries only to kill the story at the request of the regime you’re investigating (5:40 - Amber Lyon talks about the dictatorship in Bahrain and how the US funds it, 17:12 - How CNN killed the story). Especially when the regime is one of your customers…
The death of investigative journalism begs the question: who killed it? American television viewers or media companies and governments?
Bernanke: Get Rid of the Debt Ceiling -
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke criticized the debt ceiling as an unusual device that can be used to prevent the United States from paying it’s bills, as he suggested that the country would be better off if the debt limit did not exist.
The same could be said about the Federal Reserve.
UPDATE:
Peter Schiff’s commentary on the debt ceiling (emphasis mine):
The debt ceiling itself is both an ill-conceived compromise and a relic of past governmental integrity. For its first 128 years as a republic, the United States was able to function without a debt ceiling. This was possible for the simple reason that U.S. government had no central bank and could not borrow beyond its ability to repay through taxation. And since the ability to tax is always limited by taxpayers’ assets (and their extreme hostility to those who want to take them), legal gimmicks were not needed to prevent Congress from spending too freely. But the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 gave the Federal Government a potential means to borrow indefinitely by having the new bank buy its debt. Sensing this danger, the original Federal Reserve Act of 1913 prohibited the Fed from buying or holding government debt.
But just four years later the United States needed a means to raise money quickly to pay for its efforts in the First World War. The government passed an amendment to the charter to allow the Fed to purchase Treasury Bonds. Fearing (correctly) that this would create a mechanism for perpetual debt expansion, conservative lawmakers insisted that the amendment include a “debt ceiling” provision that would cap the amount that the government could borrow.
‘South Park’ Creators to Start Company, Important Studios -
… the deal speaks to a huge shift in power in the entertainment industry, thanks to the Internet and the changing ways people watch television. Creators like Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker have the opportunity to have a more direct relationship with their millions of fans, potentially bypassing the traditional Hollywood machinery to promote new projects and make old ones available.
“South Park,” in particular, is an early pioneer of making television available through online streaming. Even as Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, filed a lawsuit against Google over the unauthorized posting of clips of its shows on YouTube, factions within the company pushed to make episodes of “South Park” available free almost immediately after their initial broadcast.
Was Hitler Really a Fan of Gun Control? -
Is gun control a tool of tyrants? Mother Jones doesn’t think so (emphasis mine):
In 1938, under Nazi rule, gun laws became significantly more relaxed. Rifle and shotgun possession were deregulated, and gun access for hunters, Nazi Party members, and government officials was expanded. The legal age to own a gun was lowered. Jews, however, were prohibited from owning firearms and other dangerous weapons.
Just so we’re clear (Wikipedia):
The Holocaust was the mass murder or genocide of approximately six million Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party
Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party: Guns
Six million Jews during World War II: No Guns
Why did Hitler take away their guns?
If Jews had been better armed, Spitzer says, it would only have hastened their demise.
According to Mother Jones: Hitler taking guns away from the Jews slowed their demise…
So, was Hitler really a fan of gun control? Only if he hated Jews.
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Republican staffer fired for copyright memo talks to Ars -
Khanna’s memo advocated several common-sense reforms to the copyright system, including reducing the term of copyright protection and reining in “statutory damages” that can be as high as $150,000 per infringement.
Here’s the original story.