Monthly Archives: January 2013

Children and Gun Control

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In the aftermath of the Newtown shootings, the Left cynically is using children as weapons in their charge against weapons.  Here’s an example.  And the six-year-old miscreant Had Been Warned, too.

At Silver Spring, MD’s, Roscoe Nix Elementary School, Assistant Principle Renee Garraway sent a six-year-old boy’s parents “a letter” alleging that he’d

“threatened to shoot a student” and that he had been spoken to earlier about similar behavior.

The “threat,” it turns out, came in the middle of a game a boy and a girl classmate had been playing.  He pointed his finger at her and said “Pow.”

In the letter, according to The Washington Post,

an assistant principal had warned one parent that the child’s behavior could lead to a suspension.  At school, a counselor “had an extended conversation” with the child to emphasize “the inappropriateness of using objects to make shooting gestures[.]”

Because today it’s inappropriate for children to play games that children have been playing harmlessly for thousands of years.  And

an assistant principal had talked to the boy about the “seriousness” of the issue[.]

Despite that, according to the school district’s lawyer, Judith S Bresler,

…after the meeting with the counselor and assistant principal, [the boy] chose to point his finger at a female classmate and say “Pow.”

Why, the heinous, disobedient, little six-year-old monster.  We’ll show him.  And they suspended the little hand-totinggun-toting criminal for a day.

Montgomery County schools spokesman Dana Tofig chimed in:

[S]uspending a student is a serious matter, and that is especially true of a student who is in our early grades.

So, it’s an especially serious matter for a child to play Cowboys and Indians.  Oh, wait—there’s one of the Left’s code words.  Prolly ought to suspend him for his next move, playing Unarmed Settlers and Indians, too.  Or would an extended arm, with the other hand back by one’s ear, also be an illegal weapon?  Probably not.  Too bad, too; the school would miss out on two-fer in that game.  Or a triple play, if the child playing the role of the Indigenous American also weren’t actually one.

All of this actually happened in mid-December, shortly after the Newtown shootings (it’s only coming to light now because the family has been forced to file a formal appeal with the school, the first move in bringing the matter to court, over the school’s intransigence), so a measure of hysteria might be expected, as the family’s lawyer, Robin Ficker, noted.  But these school officials are grown, rational, trained adults.  They know better.

That’s what makes it especially appalling that these folks are using children in their war on weapons.

Japan’s Sovereign Debt

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With our just completed tax “deal” adding $4 trillion to our national debt by 2022, I thought it might be interesting to look at the debt load of another country that used to be an economic powerhouse, but whose economy has been stagnant while its population ages: Japan.  In no particular order, we see the following:

  • Japanese administrations have accumulated debt worth $14.6 trillion, roughly 230% of GDP.
  • Since the 1990s, administrations have bailed out failed banks and insurance companies.
  • Tax revenues are less than half of expenditures.
  • Interest on Japanese debt has been held to 0.75% by the Bank of Japan, their central bank.
  • Since 2011, the BoJ has fed emergency programs a total of ¥213 trillion ($1.2 trillion).
  • The BoJ Governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, acknowledges
    • At the moment, the effect of our monetary policy in stimulating economic growth is very limited.
    • Fully one-quarter of the government’s overall budget currently goes toward servicing debt.  Were Tokyo forced to pay higher interest rates, it’s mountain of debt would grow even more rapidly.
  • The new Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, wants more of the same: a new ¥14.4 trillion ($120 billion) economic stimulus program, this time for the construction sector.  At the same time, Abe wants Shirakawa to pump unlimited cash into the economy.

This graph illustrates:

Any of that look familiar?

The data and graph are via Spiegel Online International.

Now that the Bill Has Been Passed

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…and we can see what is in it, the pork for President Barack Obama’s paymasters that is in it is quite impressive.  Here are some, in no particular order.  Enjoy the sausage.

  • Accelerated tax write-off for owners of NASCAR tracks: $78 million
  • Tax credit for companies operating in American Samoa: $62 million
  • Distillers rum tax rebate: $222 million
  • Film and television producers expense the first $15 million of production costs incurred in the US ($20 million incurred in economically depressed areas in the United States): $430 million
  • Wind production tax credit: $12 billion
  • Cellulosic biofuels tax credit continued and expanded to include producers of “algae-based fuel:” $59 million
  • Biodiesel and “renewable diesel” tax credit: $2.2 billion
  • Plug-in motorcycles tax credit: $7 million
  • Energy-efficient appliances tax credit: $650 million
  • Energy-efficient homes tax credit: $154 million

Most of these seem like chump change, but they, with other inclusions, sum to $40 billion of pork in the tax “deal.”

Whining

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Here’s Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, KY) on leadership in the context of the coming debt ceiling fiasco.

Now, the question is, will the president lead?  Why should we have to be bringing him to the table?  Why isn’t he leading us in the direction of beginning to solve our long-term debt and deficit problem?  It’s perplexing to me that the president of the United States, elected to lead the country, is so reluctant to engage on the most important issue confronting our future.

In McConnell’s defense, this is a typical Republican whine.

When are you guys going to stop whining about the President being mean and supply your own leadership?  When are you guys going to stop surrendering the field to the Progressives, put up your own plans, push for them, talk to us Americans in your constituencies and your neighboring Democratic constituencies, and be leaders yourselves?

Quit worrying about bringing the guy who sits in the President’s chair to the table—move on without him.  Pass the relevant bills in the House, and call out the Progressives in the Senate and the White House over their intransigence in refusing to be part of the solution.  Show some responsibility—and take the initiative from the Progressives.

Or are you really so used to your status that none of you can conceive of actual Republican leadership?

Harry Reid’s Filibuster

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I wrote here about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D, NV) move to eliminate the filibuster so his Progressives could run riot in the Senate, or Conservatives in their turn, eliminating any and all rights of the minority.

This, of course, would reduce a once proud institution to a shabby Parliament.

Now, though, Politico reports that Reid will delay his move until the middle of the month, since he doesn’t appear to have the Democratic votes needed to violate the Senate’s Rules.  This is indicated by the existence of a bipartisan coalition of Senators—four each Democrats and Republicans—who demur from his assault.  It’s those four Democrats objecting that are giving him pause.

However, Reid is attempting to effect this delay by technically

keep[ing] the Senate in its first legislative day by sending the chamber into recess—rather than adjourning.  That move would keep the Senate in session, preserving his option of pushing forward with the so-called nuclear option at a later date.

He’s filibustering the protect-the-filibuster move.