ThrutchBlog

This is an interesting follow-up on the Wisconsin teachers' union rule changes. It should give heart to reformers who will always have to put up with loud protests at the time, yet this example shows how effective reforms can ultimately be. Link to Original

Speech Laws and the IRS Link to Original

As many may know, Firefly is by far my favorite TV show. In this interview its creator, Joss Whedon, discusses how he manages to be so productive which I found incredibly interesting and motivating. This passage in particular struck me, in that it shows how much he enjoys what he does, such that even relaxing involves productivity. Link to Original

Here are some anecdotal accounts of how Obama sicced his IRS thugs against a broad swath of ideological opponents. Gives me shivers. I was one of those victims of the IRS scandal. As an outspoken critic of President Obama and his socialist anti-business agenda, the IRS targeted me for intimidation and persecution–not once, but twice. The first IRS attack started in January of 2011. After I won a victory in tax court in the summer of 2012, I was audited again 5 days later. FIVE DAYS. Tax experts have never heard of this happening- EVER. [...] How did I know this was a coordinated attack on conservative critics and donors? Because just in my small inner circle of friends, virtually every businessman that I met was getting hit with IRS audit notices only weeks after writing checks to the GOP and Mitt Romney. Strange coincidence, huh? In one case, a friend of mine who is a hedge fund CEO attended the first major Wall Street fundraiser for Mitt Romney. Only a select few Wall Street big shots attended. After they went home, almost every one of them in the room that wrote a check to Romney later reported receiving IRS audit notices. In another case, a friend of mine wrote a big check to Romney. He called me to report his suspicions when only weeks later he received an IRS notice. In another case, my next-door neighbor (who is a big GOP donor) reported being under vicious IRS attack. In another case, my accountant was suddenly audited only months after my first IRS attack. Even my publicist received an IRS audit notice. Link to Original

There are some good points herein, most notably: In fact, there is serious inequality in Sweden, but the divide is not so much between the rich and the poor as between those with jobs and those without. And frequently this is an ethnic divide. As the author Fredrik Segerfeldt points out in a new study, Sweden has the largest employment gap between natives and foreign-born of all the rich countries where data is available. Only 6.4 per cent of native Swedes are unemployed, but almost 16 per cent of the immigrants are. In Stockholm, as in Paris, this problem is concentrated in the suburbs. In Husby, where the riots started, 38 per cent of those under 26 neither study nor work. So what’s to blame? The aspect of the Swedish social model that the government has not dared to touch: strong employment protection. By law, the last person to be hired must be the first person to be sacked. And if you employ someone longer than six months, the contract is automatically made permanent. A system intended to protect the workers has condemned the young to a succession of short-term contracts. Sweden’s high de facto minimum wage — around 70 per cent of the average wage — renders unemployed those whose skills are worth less than that. Sweden has the fewest low-wage, entry-level jobs in Europe. Just 2.5 per cent of Swedish jobs are on this level, compared to a European average of 17 per cent. Those with poor education, experience or language skills have found that Sweden is not such a utopia after all. If you never get your first job, you never get the skills and experiences that would give you the second and third job. All that labour ‘protection’ has created a society of insiders and outsiders. Sweden has generously welcomed immigrants into its borders. But there is another border — around its jobs market — and it is heavily fortified. Link to Original

Milton Wolf has a great column highlighting the tyrannical nature of Obama's federal government. Link to Original

Paul Hsieh has a good column out showing how the implementation of Obamacare requires the sanction and participation of its victims. He then recommends that such victims withdraw their sanction. Link to Original

I'm behind on the news and in keeping up with the lowlights of the day, but fwiw, here's my favorite WSJ columnist on the IRS scandal and Obama's role in it. Link to Original

*** Mod's note: Merged with another topic - sN *** This is a nice promo piece for the Institute for Justice (which has litigated against eminent domain, campaign finance laws and licensing regulations among others). Link to Original

I'm glad that Tom Bowden and ARI have once again taken up the issue of antitrust and the irreparable damage and injustice it does. This IBD editorial is a nice addition to their campaign. Link to Original

I good article by Don Watkins at Forbes. Link to Original

If I had kids, I think I'd send them to Leport Schools. Here's an example of why. Link to Original

I neglected to post an announcement to this panel discussion on Islamists put on by the UC Davis Objectivist club, but it seems to have created quite the stir on campus. I haven't yet seen any followup stories on the event itself however. Link to Original

You've got to love public <strike>indoctrination</strike> education of <b><a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/benjibacker/15-year-old-wisconsin-conservative-meets-bullying?source=FWFBBenjisBlog">our youth</a></b>.<br /><br />And I must say I find it amazing that so many of the same people who are against the <i>voluntary</i> exercise of free speech by corporations &nbsp;simultaneously&nbsp;endorse the coercive funding of education -- a policy which forces taxpayers to materially advance views they find abhorrent and destructive. Link to Original

NPR provides an interesting look at those the government pronounces "disabled". I don't know much about the topic, so I found this quite informative (and not the typical slanted NPR social engineering masquerading as reporting). Here's an excerpt: Link to Original