Categories
Accountability national politics & policies

Baghdad Boots

Are we being misinformed about the war now being waged against ISIS in Iraq and Syria?

Or should I call it a “counter-terrorism operation”?

Oh, I know there is an election in a few weeks, so we don’t want to bother the pretty little heads of our national representatives in Congress. They’re far too busy running for re-election.

And, though the president isn’t on the ballot, as he points out, his unpopular policies certainly are. Mr. Obama’s concern for his own political legacy must of course come before the ordinary lives of our sons and daughters that he has placed in harm’s way.

Get realpolitik.

Don’t expect a congressional debate over the U.S. commitment now. And give the Prez a break; he’s ordering enough airstrikes to supposedly keep a lid on things until after the election.

Chill out. Our commander-in-chief has repeatedly assured us there are no boots on the ground. Certainly, the city-within-a-city U.S. Embassy in Baghdad isn’t going to be overrun or anything like that.

Except, well, we do have boots on the ground. Or just above it, flying attack helicopters on combat missions . . . because ISIS soldiers have gotten within 15 miles of the Baghdad airport.

“The tool that was immediately available was the Apache,” explains Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “You’re not going to wait until they’re climbing over the wall. Had [ISIS forces] overrun the Iraqi unit, it was a straight shot to the Baghdad airport.”

Boots guard that airport. But who’s guarding truth, justice and the American way?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
individual achievement

The £2 Workaround

Last February, between Bath and Bristol, the A431 suffered from a “landslip.” (I assume that’s Brit-speak for “landslide.”) With the road closed, folks on either side of the slide had to drive around “the long way.”

The government body responsible for the road said the repair wouldn’t be finished till the end of the year.

So one commuter, businessman Mike Watts, took matters into his own hands. Contracting with the farmer who owned the adjacent fields, he built a road parallel to the old one. And, with the apparent blessings of the road authority, set up his 400-yard toll road to make up the difference. A private, pay-for-use “traffic revision.”

He charges £2 per trip for a car, and just celebrated his hundred thousandth car. He’s well on his way to recovering his costs.

Unfortunately, those costs have included some payola demands (er, fees) from the government.

On mises.org Matt McCaffrey lauds the success of this private road venture, making the point that, yes, private enterprise can build roads.

But we all knew that. Private roads, turnpikes, toll roads — they were once quite common, and could become common again. This is the first in a century in Britain, though.

What this story demonstrates? Let another enterprising Brit, 19th century sociologist Herbert Spencer, explain it: “Unlike private enterprise which quickly modifies its actions to meet emergencies . . . the law-made instrumentality lumbers on under all varieties of circumstances at its habitual rate.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Today

October 13, Albert Jay Nock

On October 13, 1870, American social critic and education theorist Albert Jay Nock was born. Nock was the author of a number of books, including “Jefferson, the Man” and “Our Enemy, The State,” but was probably most famous for his intellectual autobiography, “Memoirs of a Superfluous Man,” which was widely read and admired amongst conservatives in the 1950s and 1960s.

Categories
Thought

Albert Jay Nock

Money does not pay for anything, never has, never will. It is an economic axiom as old as the hills that goods and services can be paid for only with goods and services.

Categories
Today

October 12, Columbus, Macintosh, iCloud

On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas, thinking he had reached India.

Exactly two hundred years later, a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips ended the Salem Witch Trials.

On October 12, 1823, Charles Macintosh of Scotland sold his first raincoat.

Categories
links

Townhall: And the Hypocritical Horse-Trading You Rode In On

This weekend on Townhall.com? The Common Sense of a broken stalemate in Virginia. Click on over. Then come back here, for more information.

Categories
by Paul Jacob video

Video: The Long Con in Arkansas

A video about three legislature-referred ballot measures in Arkansas, one of which, Issue 3, is NOT like the others. Video courtesy of Paul Jacob.

Categories
Today

October 11, the Juliana, DAR, and Pershing

On October 11, 1811, the Juliana began its maiden voyage on its regular route, between New York City, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey. It was the world’s first steam-powered ferry, invented by John Stevens (pictured). His earlier steam-powered boat, the Phoenix, marked the pages of history as the first steam-powered boat to navigate the open ocean, two years earlier.

October 11, 1890 marks the founding of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

On the same date in 1976, President Gerald R. Ford approved a congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 to appoint, posthumously, George Washington to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States, as part of the bicentennial celebrations. John J. Pershing is the only other American to attain this high title, and the only one to achieve it while alive.

Categories
Today

October 10, 2 dead economists

On October 10, 1714, the French economist Pierre le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert or Boisguillebert (pictured) died. On the same date in 1973, Austrian-born American economist, Ludwig von Mises died. Both economists were known for their defenses of freer markets: le Pesant for pioneering the critique of mercantilism; Mises for systematizing economic theory and advancing the critique of both socialism and latter-day mercantalism (what he called “interventionism”).

Categories
initiative, referendum, and recall term limits

Grand Rapids’ Grand Alliance

Two incredible activists in Grand Rapids, Michigan, have achieved the impossible. Through their hard work in gathering over 10,000 voter signatures on a petition, Rina Baker and Bonnie Burke have united big business and big labor in perfect harmony.

Union bosses and the bigs of biz are now funding a united campaign.

Their ubiquitous mailers speak against the “hijacking of our local democratic process” and sinister forces trying to “change our city charter, erode local control and silence your voice,” warning Grand Rapids residents: “Don’t let your vote be shredded.”

Shredded votes? What specific issue are they talking about?

Well, this well-funded business/labor campaign has purposely left out two words that, if uttered, would obliterate their entire effort.

Those two little words? Term limits.

The law that Rina Baker and Bonnie Burke have petitioned onto the ballot, for a public vote? An eight-year limit for mayor and council members.

Nothing brings powerful special interests together like fear of term limits.

The president of the United States is limited to eight years, but Andy Johnston, the Chamber of Commerce’s vice president of government affairs, argues that, “Particularly at the local level, it takes time to learn the ins and outs of city government.”

“In politics you develop relationships with different people,” explains Kent-Ionia Labor Council President Sean Egan. “When you continually replace good politicians for the sake of having new people, you lose the wisdom and experience and you end up with policy created by other groups.”

You mean policy supported by folks “other” than big business and big labor?

Oh, my!

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.