28 August 2009

Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link]

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS we’d be better off without lawyers and the rule of law.

Club for Growth Headquarters Terrorists are too weak to advance their own unpopular ideologies, so
they seek to tear down their opponents’. Henninger’s attack on the rule
[The Club for Growth] of law in the United States invites exactly what terrorists want us to do.
AUG 27, 2009 05:23P.M.

I was testing my new camera phone earlier today and here was the
result: FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Howard Dean: Agreeing With

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS ATR? [Americans for Tax
The War on Terror Is Reform]
AUG 27, 2009 03:59P.M.
Over—Spread the News! [Cato
Howard Dean’s latest statement on health care reform clarifies what
at Liberty—Spread the News!] we—and he—has been saying all along: that ‘co-ops’ that are government
AUG 27, 2009 04:14P.M. sanctioned, government subsidiz...

Daniel Henninger shares the good news in the Wall Street Journal
today: The war on terror is over!
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
Unfortunately, he appears to bemoan that development. The excesses of
the “war on terror” will—regrettably, to him—be reined in by lawyers. More on the FEC Opinion on
His basic thesis is, very roughly: Lawyers interfere with good things. Our Specter Refund Request
Lawyers are going to interfere with torture. So torture is a good thing.
[The Club for Growth]
This litigation nightmare, together with the chilling effect of AUG 27, 2009 03:33P.M.
the special prosecutor’s potential indictments, has as its goal
making the price of aggressive interrogation too high under I attended the FEC meeting today when the Commission considered our
any circumstance, including a one-hour-bomb scenario. advisory opinion request, so I got to hear the comments by the various
commissioners. I was there also to answer questions from the
Bring back the Dalkon Shield, asbestos, and torture! commissioners under a new procedure now in place at the FEC. There
were no questions. We are grateful that the FEC approved our request,
Except that the ticking time-bomb/”one-hour bomb” scenario is never and I think that the opinion they ultimately adopted (pdf) improved on
going to happen. It’s an interesting ethical thought experiment—and another earlier draft that also agreed to our request. I must admit to
riveting fodder for TV—but not a serious dilemma for our security policy. disappointment in the two commissioners who voted no on the request
because, based on the law, this was an easy question. While I understand
I take delight when commentators misuse history or culture to jazz up and respect their concerns, it does not justify their vote. They seem to
their writing, and Henninger throws a slow, fat pitch right over the plate: have the opinion that no one should ever contact any donor at any time
He quotes the famous anti-laywer line from Shakespeare, “The first thing because donors don’t want to get additional mail. That is a fine opinion,
we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” but it’s not what the law states. The law says donor “information copied
from such [FEC] reports or statements may not be sold or used by any
The line was spoken by a criminal to other criminals as they dreamed up person for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for commercial
a criminals’ “chicken in every pot” scenario. This undercuts the idea that purposes.” We stated clearly that we would not use the information

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 28 August 2009

“soliciting contributions or for commercial purposes.” If they are FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
concerned the law would open up donors to an avalanche of mail, it is a
misplaced concern. First, donors are already snowed under by mail. As I Would Rather You Just Said
nearly any donor can tell you, once you give to one candidate, the
candidates themselves repeatedly bombard you with additional requests. “Thank You, Private Schools,”
Then in many cases they loan, sell, exchange, give or rent your name to
other candidates, committees and their political party. Second, today’s and Went on Your Way… [Cato
opinion is not likely to generate a lot of mail from others who will use it
as guidance. Sending out such a letter is pretty expensive and will at Liberty“Thank You, Private
generate no money since solicitations are banned. Given the expense,
very few letters like this will ever be sent. If they are concerned the law Schools,” and Went on Your
leaves a loophole for groups to bury FEC reported donors in mail, then
these commissioners should inform Congress of the issue and concern. If Way…]
Congress agrees, then they can pass a new law. (I would not support such AUG 27, 2009 02:57P.M.
a law because of First Amendment issues.) It is not the role of the
Commission to rewrite the law through denying advisory opinion Some well-known bloggers are being terrible bullies, beating up on
requests, which chill speech. In fact we asked for this opinion because private schools.
the FEC recently has not spoken logically and consistently about this law.
My final observation is that it shows the FEC could use more expertise Felix Salmon kicks things off by hoping the government tightens the
from people who have worked on campaigns. They have plenty of definition of a “charitable” organization and begins taxing private
competent lawyers, but I get the impression few have any knowledge of schools who don’t “do a bit more to earn it.” Matt Yglesias agrees that
how campaigns are run. Too often it seems to me that the Commission private schools are mooching deadbeats and ups the ante, calling them
worries too much about theoretical concerns without the insight that actively harmful as well. Finally, Conor Clarke at The Atlantic agrees, but
campaign experience might provide. makes the other two look like panty-waists by proposing the government
radically narrow what is considered a charity in the first place.

Yglesias even has the temerity to indict private schools for the failure of
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS NYC public schools:

Thursday Links [Cato at And as best one can tell, their main impact on the common
weal is negative, drawing parents with resources and social
Liberty] capital out of the public school system and contributing to its
AUG 27, 2009 03:10P.M. neglect. You’d have to believe that New York City’s public
schools would be both better funded and free of this kind of
• If you think you’re going to keep your health insurance plan under nonsense if a larger portion of the city’s elite were sending
the bill currently in Congress, think again. their kids to them.

• Why France is bouncing back from the recession more quickly than Really? Would we have to believe what Yglesias says? No, it’s not “the
the United States. best one can tell.” According to the evidence, Yglesias’ breezy, offhand
accusation is demonstrably wrong. Increased competition from private
• Why it’s high time to abolish the Department of Homeland schools actually improves public school performance.
Security.
And the more kids who leave public to go private, the more money the
• How air drone strikes are undermining U.S. relations with schools have for the kids who remain.
Pakistan.
What ingrates. They complain about the lost tax revenue while
• Podcast: Bernanke’s Second Term/Act/Chance dismissing out of hand the billions of dollars that parents and donors
spend every year to educate children outside the government system.
They dismiss the fact that these parents and donors are saving taxpayers
in the neighborhood of $60 Billion a year based on current-dollar public
school spending and the number of kids in private schools.

Finally, if this is all about rich people getting a free ride, why aren’t these
guys screaming about means-testing public schools? Why shouldn’t we
charge rich parents tuition to attend public schools? If a charitable

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 28 August 2009

deduction for private schools is so bad, why isn’t a free public education State. In New Hampshire, economic development officials
even worse? pick up Massachusetts business owners at the border in a
limousine and give them VIP treatment and a pitch about
why they should relocate there. Indiana officials, using
billboards at the borders and direct appeals to businesses in
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS neighboring states, are inviting them to ‘Come on IN for
lower taxes, business and housing costs.’ As states struggle to
Reid: ‘Card Check’ Not in the keep jobs in a continuing recession, they are no longer hoping
businesses in other states happen to notice their lower taxes,
Cards [The Club for cheaper office space and less-stringent regulations. They are
taking the message directly to them and taking shots at their
Growth‘Card Check’ Not in the neighbor’s shortcomings. …No one does it more
unapologetically than the Nevada Development Authority.
Cards] The agency has picked on California before, but its $1 million
AUG 27, 2009 02:52P.M. campaign, launched this month, ratchets up the mockery of
California’s budget deficits and IOU paychecks. ‘It’s all done
Getting its information from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Roll Call is tongue-in-cheek. But the underlying deal is, we want this
reporting ($) that card check is “not in the cards” this year, according to business,’ Nevada Development Authority President and CEO
Harry Reid. The article also points this ticking time bomb: Somer Hollingsworth said. …’They do mask the nastiness of
their message with humor, but this time, their ads are over
Meanwhile, the Review-Journal also reported Thursday that the top,’ said [California Assemblyman] Solorio, a Democrat
Reid said he would allow bipartisan health care negotiations from Santa Ana.
to continue “for a couple of weeks” in September. But that if
no progress is made by a group of six Senators, led by
Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), he would pull the
plug on those talks and prepare to pass health care reform FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
under the reconciliation process, which would only require 51
votes and would avert a Republican filibuster. This I Don’t Get [Cato at
Liberty]
AUG 27, 2009 02:13P.M.
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
While the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency constantly
When Governments Are Forced raids factories and workplaces looking for peaceful and hard-working
undocumented immigrants to kick out of the country, the same federal
to Compete, the Result Is Better government agency brings to the U.S. dangerous Mexican drug
traffickers who—while continuing their criminal activities in Mexico and
Policy and More Liberty [Cato the U.S.—also serve as informants to the federal authorities in their war
on drugs.
at Liberty]
AUG 27, 2009 02:46P.M. Can someone explain this to me?

A story in USA Today is a perfect illustration of the liberalizing power of

tax competition. In an effort to attract more jobs and investment, states
are competing with each – even taking the aggressive step of advertising
in high-tax states. This does not guarantee that states will always use the
best approach since states sometimes try to lure companies with special
handouts, but tax competition generally encourages states to lower tax
rates and control fiscal and regulatory burdens. The same process works
internationally, which is precisely why international bureaucracies
controlled by high-tax nations are seeking to thwart fiscal competition
between nations:

Las Vegas is running ads in California warning businesses

they can “kiss their assets goodbye” if they stay in the Golden

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 28 August 2009

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS PAID FOR BY CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC AND NOT
AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S
FEC: Club Permitted to Contact COMMITTEE. 202-955-5500.

Specter Donors [The Club for

Growth] FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
AUG 27, 2009 01:51P.M.
HUD Helps to Set the Ground
FEC: Club for Growth for Next Round of Mortgage
Permitted to Contact Specter Fraud [Cato at Liberty]
Donors AUG 27, 2009 12:58P.M.
Commissioners Agree to the Club’s Request
Just when you were thinking it was safe to go back into the mortgage
market, today’s Wall Street Journal is highlighting the next source of
mortgage fraud, the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) reserve
Washington - The Federal Election Commission voted mortgage program. In a typical reverse mortgage, the bank sends the
today to allow the Club for Growth to contact thousands of borrower a monthly check (or a lump sum payment at the beginning of
contributors to Senator Arlen Specter’s campaign about his the loan).
policy of providing refunds to those who supported his
reelection before he switched parties from Republican to It seems that some creative individuals have figured they could deed a
Democrat in April. run-down house to an elderly individual, and then get a reserve
mortgage on that property; leaving them with the cash and the
“The Commission’s decision is good news for thousands of government with the run-down worthless property. Of course, this
Americans who contributed to Specter’s campaign to elect a requires getting an appraiser to go along with the value of the home, but
Republican, not to strengthen Harry Reid’s Democratic since the Clinton HUD decided to do away with FHA control of
majority,” said Club Executive Director David Keating. “We appraisers and let the lender pick the appraiser, that sadly hasn’t been
look forward to helping Senator Specter make good on his much of an obstacle.
commitment.”
The great thing for lenders is that if the loan goes bad, or the value of the
After announcing that he would run for reelection as a house falls below the mortgage amount, FHA – backed by the taxpayer –
Democrat, Specter said, “Upon request, I will return picks up the tab. Of course, the borrower is required to pay an insurance
campaign contributions contributed during this cycle.” In a premium to cover any potential shortfalls. But just like in any other
June advisory opinion request to the Federal Election federal insurance program, when these’s a shortfall beyond funds
Commission, Club for Growth asked for approval to mail collected via premiums, we taxpayers are left on the hook. I could go on
individual donors of Citizens for Arlen Specter with about what a great job Washington does running insurance programs;
information on how to request a refund, including a suffice to say, Washington does a pretty poor job.
preprinted form letter and envelope addressed to the
Senator’s campaign. If Washington were serious about cracking down on predatory lending
and mortgage fraud, Congress should end the practice of allowing
FEC lawyers drafted three different responses to the Club’s lenders to put 100% of their losses to the taxpayer. Maybe that would
request, and the Commission approved an opinion today by a provide the correct incentives for the lender to actually make sound
vote of 4 to 2 that the Club may use information contained in loans.
FEC reports to notify Specter’s donors of his decision to
switch parties and his offer to refund contributions upon
request.

“Senator Specter continues to face doubts about his loyalties,

and I expect many of his donors will want their money back,”
added Keating. “We hope to make it a little easier by
informing them of the Senator’s policy and providing a
preprinted letter and envelope to request a refund.”

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 28 August 2009

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS includes Chicago’s Midway Airport. “The airlines are not
enforcing their own restrictions that they have on the books
Government Hates right now … and that causes problems.”

Competition: Medicare Edition UPDATE: Ryan Young at the American Spectator writes me, “Rep.
Lipinski’s checked bag bill may be the result of rent-seeking. The main
[Americans for Tax Reform] luggage handler union, along with multiple airlines gave money to Rep.
AUG 27, 2009 12:07P.M. Lipinski’s campaign last year. If the bill passes, they should easily recoup
their investment. I wrote an article on it last month.
A “public option” health insurer would create a new government
sponsored enterprise in our health care market. Government enterprises
are not merely inefficient – they are the ...
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Meghan Cox Gurdon: Doesn’t

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
Understand Terrorism [Cato at
Thursday’s Daily News [The
Liberty]
Club for Growth] AUG 27, 2009 10:52A.M.
AUG 27, 2009 11:59A.M.
In goading victim states to overreact, one of the things terrorists seek is
THE DAILY NEWS Club for Growth Challenges Bennett to Debate - confirmation of their ideological narrative. The story Islamist terrorists
Associated Press Club for Growth Attacks Bennett’s Health Care Bill - tell themselves and others is that the United States is a wicked power, an
Matt Canham, [Link] Like Your Health Plan? Read This - Michael occupier, a Crusader, and an exploiter of Muslims. Terrorists are
Tanner, Cato Institute Vive Le French Care? - IBD Editorial Dems: Win energized, and they have an easier time with recruiting and maintaining
One for Teddy on Health Care Reform - Frates & Javers, Politico The support, when the United States does things that make these charges
Stimulus Is Definitely Working?!- Thomas Cooley & Peter Rupert, look true.
Forbes Earmark Hunting: Less Than 50 Reps To Go! - Jim Harper,
Washington Watch In Defense of ‘Flash’ Trading - Chris Hynes & Donald Lacking this insight, Washington Examiner columnist Meghan Cox
Luskin, WSJ Spending on Lobbying Doubled From 2000 to 2008 - Mark Gurdon interprets recent events wrongly in almost every respect. Her
Perry, Carpe Diem Massachusetts Faces Special Election - Reid Wilson & column is called “These are Good Times for Terrorists.”
Aaron Blake, The Hill Cubs 9, Nats 4 - Associated Press
Rather than scoring a terrorist “win,” the compassionate release of
Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi doesn’t square with Western
cruelty. Thus—to the extent it matters to terrorists—it confounds their
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS version of events. Terrorists don’t really do a “how much time will I
serve” calculation, so the release probably doesn’t matter much. In terms
Dumb Proposal 30,000 Feet in of individual justice, it may have been wrong, but not in terms of
counterterrorism strategy.
the Air [The Club for Growth]
AUG 27, 2009 11:27A.M. Gurdon cites flagging U.S. will in Afghanistan as a sign of terrorist
success, and it would provide short-term gains to the Taliban if the
If something is annoying, make it illegal! From USA Today: United States exited the field. But with lessened U.S. violence in the area,
and with the recent election giving a stronger toehold to legitimate
Tired of overhead bins stuffed to the point of bursting, some government, U.S. military caution stands to deal terrorism strategic
frequent fliers say they would welcome a strictly enforced setbacks.
limit on the size of carry-ons that is being proposed in
Congress. Legislation proposed by Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., Where Gurdon really gets it wrong—and purposefully so—is in her
would set a federal standard for the maximum size of bags a interpretation of Attorney General Holder’s move to investigate
passenger can carry on board — a decision currently left to allegations of torture by U.S. authorities: “[M]ilitants now know that,
each airline. should they be apprehended, American interrogators cannot so much as
wave a loaded gun or blow cigar smoke in their faces lest they face the
“It’s clear if anything is going to be done, it’s going to take an disciplinary wrath of their own authorities.”
act of Congress to do it,” says Lipinski, whose district

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 28 August 2009

These slights are not the gravamen of the torture allegations, and FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
Gurdon undoubtedly knows that. What she may not know is that abuse
of terror suspects is good for terrorism: It confirms the ideological ‘Cash-for-Clunkers’ Sales
narrative holding that the United States is an evil, abusive power.
Meticulous fair treatment of terror suspects, on the other hand—as Disappoint Detroit [‘The Club
ordinary criminals—is the fate terrorists loathe. This robs them of their
claim on moral authority and makes their struggle boring. for Growth]
AUG 27, 2009 10:05A.M.
Recall that the first of the “five demands” in the 1981 IRA hunger strike
was the right not to wear a prison uniform. Treating them as ordinary Taxpayers are subsidizing Japan. From the Financial Times:
criminals would sap their legitimacy and the strength of their challenge
to incumbent power in the eyes of key audiences. General Motors and Chrysler sales under the US “cash-for-
clunkers” car scrappage incentives fell well below the two
It would have been far, far better for the United States and CIA Detroit carmakers’ recent market shares, according to the
interrogators not to have lost their cool after the 9/11 attacks. We handed government’s final summary of the scheme, which ended
terrorism many swords with our responses. But exposing error to light earlier this week.
and punishing proven wrongdoing confirms our ideology: fealty to the
rule of law. Underscoring the challenges facing the two companies in the
wake of their recent bankruptcy restructurings, the
Meghan Gurdon doesn’t understand terrorism. And she takes a real transportation department said that GM models made up
header with her flabby attempt to associate alleged CIA torture and other 17.6 per cent of the 690,100 vehicles sold under the scheme,
missteps with the constitution: while Chrysler accounted for 6.6 per cent of sales.

The Republic rests on the Constitution, but the reverse is also By contrast, GM’s market share in the first seven months of
true; the Constitution and all the benign and enlightened 2009 was 19.6 per cent, and Chrysler’s 9.6 per cent,
principles it embodies rest on the continued strength and according to Autodata, a market-research company.
moral will of the Republic.
Toyota was the biggest beneficiary of the subsidies, with a
No, Meghan. The republic, its strength, and its moral will all rest on the 19.4 per cent market share. Chrysler ended in seventh place
constitution. behind Nissan and South Korea’s Hyundai.

HT: Steve Bartin

FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

How Cap and Tax Will Hurt FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS

Illinois [Americans for Tax British Economic Suicide [Cato

Reform] at Liberty]
AUG 27, 2009 10:38A.M. AUG 27, 2009 09:30A.M.

In our continuing, daily, state by state, look at the financial impact of the A Bloomberg story on one cause of the ongoing British economic disaster
Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade Tax Bill, we will show you the projected under Prime Minister Gordon Brown:
losses in Gross State Product, Personal Income, and...
Andrew Wesbecher moved to London from New York in
2006 to sell software to banks and hedge funds. This month
he joined the exodus of American expatriates fleeing high
taxes and the city’s shrinking financial industry . . .
Americans are heading home as Britain plans a 50 percent
tax rate for those who earn more than 150,000 pounds
($248,000) a year and employers cut benefits for workers
living abroad, reducing the allure of London. That comes a
year after the U.K. said foreigners who have lived in the
country for more than seven years must pay 30,000 pounds

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR lgn@[Link] 28 August 2009

annually or give up the special status that shields overseas

income from British taxes.

Since the 1980s, London has boomed as an international city open to the
world’s entrepreneurs and their wealth, and perhaps home to more
billionaires than any other city. The British economy as a whole has
done quite well, pulled ahead by London and driven by a new free-
market spirit in the wake of Margaret Thatcher’s privatization,
deregulation, and tax cuts. Thatcher rightly argued that her cuts to
income tax rates “provided a huge boost to incentives, particularly for
those talented, internationally mobile people so essential to economic
success.” High tax rates at the top end were a “symbol of socialism” that
she wanted to scrap.

Brown is killing the free-market goose that laid the golden eggs of
Britain’s success. I really don’t understand the vision of such politicians
— don’t they know what they are doing? I want people to be successful. I
want entrepreneurs to create wealth. I love growing, vibrant cities. Why
do some people want to destroy all that?