Odds and ends number 41
Not that I necessarily keep track of these things, but this is my first look in 2012 at those items which are worth a paragraph or three, but not a full post. It helps me clean out my e-mail inbox.
I couldn’t figure out how to embed this “Made in America” video, but I found it interesting when I watched it. I’m generally in favor of free trade and against strict protectionism, but if the difference is as small as they claim then buying American is worth it. Perhaps the claim of using 5% more American products would create 220,000 jobs is a bit dubious, but I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt.
Our nation needs to take steps in regaining its onetime prominence as a leading manufacturer. But it’s interesting to note several of the companies prominently mentioned have at least one plant in a right-to-work state. I can’t ascertain whether these are all non-union shops, but chances are fairly good – given that only about 1/10 of the private-sector workforce is unionized – that these good, honest American jobs don’t come with the union label.
Not that Maryland is making any quick moves to join the ranks of Virginia and other right-to-work states – this year, HB91 hasn’t progressed beyond first reading. But the group New Day Maryland pointed out to me a couple other bills of interest in the General Assembly this term to keep an eye on, and I thought I’d pass along the word.
House Bill 23, the Dedicated State Funds Protection Act, would prohibit the fund-raiding Governor O’Malley is almost as well known for as his constant zeal to raise taxes. And House Bill 43 would allow appropriations bills to be subjected to the same referendum process as those bills not dealing with appropriations. (The last remaining legal straw opponents of the in-state tuition for illegal aliens referendum are grasping for is that the bill is an appropriations bill, although it’s not.)
Both these bills have a hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. on January 31. I presume written testimony is acceptable, too.
No SOPA for you!
My website could be an endangered species because of something I choose to do for the entertainment of my readership.
Last year two bills were introduced, one in the House and one in the Senate, that could radically damage the internet as we know it. In the Senate, the version is known as the Protect IP Act, while its House cousin is called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. Backers of the bills claim they are necessary to prevent the theft of intellectual property, but to find out what these bills really are about one can just follow the money – the national Chamber of Commerce, which favors the bill, claims that Hollywood studios, record labels, and publishing houses collectively lose $135 billion a year from piracy.
So how would this affect me? Well, you know that neat little feature I do called Friday Night Videos? In theory, putting up a video of a song originally recorded by some other artist – whether I recorded it or not – wouldn’t leave just little old me liable; oh no. This bill also drags my service provider and search engines into the equation as well, making it an enforcement nightmare and perhaps, over time, the perfect vehicle for ridding the internet of websites someone doesn’t like. Those who back the bill claim it’s only about foreign websites which pirate the best Hollywood has to offer, but that’s just a starting point. All because I’m doing my part to promote local music.
In fact, the initial push against these two acts used teen sensation Justin Bieber as an example, for he became an internet sensation by covering R&B songs as a youngster. Because he was singing copyrighted works, Justin would be violating this law. My counter to this argument, though, is that re-exposing these old songs may recreate interest in the originals so the pie isn’t sliced into more pieces but instead becomes bigger.
On the other hand, I have original content on this website which is copyrighted (just scroll down to the bottom and you’ll see indeed I claim the copyright.) Granted, I don’t monetize my content or put it behind some sort of paywall like several newspapers have done, but I do get a little pissed off when people steal my stuff without acknowledgement. I can understand the frustration some feel when this piracy happens, but there are already copyright laws on the books to cover this. (Actually, all I ask of those who wish to use my content is giving me the credit for writing it and providing a backlink to the appropriate portion of my site.)
So I fall into the camp of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” There’s no doubt that $135 billion is a lot of money, but as I pointed out earlier there’s a dynamic effect as well. Someone is making a lot of money from selling Justin Bieber’s records, and that money may not have been spent if not for him. And we’ve heard this same story before – the VCR is going to ruin Hollywood, song sharing is going to destroy the recording industry, and so on and so forth. Hollywood is just trying to get the government to protect their profits – there’s nothing wrong with the system as it stands, and the possibility of having hordes of high-profile lawyers checking content will have a chilling effect on discourse, much like the Fairness Doctrine did for radio.
But internet providers aren’t taking this lying down. Today (since this post went up at 12:01 a.m.) a significant part of the internet will “go black” to protest the possible adoption of these new laws. Included in the protest are some of the internet’s heaviest hitters – Google, Mozilla, and Wikipedia are just a few. (WordPress.org, the front site for the company which wrote the software enabling me to bring this and all my other posts to you, is also a participant.)
And the pressure is working. I normally don’t have a lot of good things to say about our state’s junior Senator, but Ben Cardin was a sponsor of Protect IP who now won’t vote for it as currently constituted. It’s a small step in the right direction, anyway.
Another complaint registered by some is that many of the groups who are leading the fight against Protect IP and SOPA are far-left groups. That is true, but groups like the Heritage Foundation, TEA Party Patriots, and FreedomWorks have allied with them to create a bipartisan coalition against the cause. I don’t mind having people on the other side with me when they’re in the right.
The internet doesn’t need a gatekeeper, and as we’ve seen too many times the best intentions of government go astray rather quickly once the camel’s nose gets under the tent. But rather than put my website down for the day and go black, I’m going to leave this post up and encourage you to contact your representatives and Senators to tell them SOPA and Protect IP are bad ideas.
But you might want to have a phone book handy to look up the numbers. Use that as a reminder of what the post-SOPA internet might be like.
Blog poll finals set (and other good news)
Yes, this isn’t a serious, weighty topic, but those of you who are interested will be lapping this up.
For the third year in a row I’ve done a ‘best local blog’ competition for fun and as a way to get a few additional readers during a generally slow news period. Sometimes I get a lot of votes and sometimes just a few make the decision.
Anyway, the winners of my three semi-finals have been determined and will advance to the finals with a winner to be announced on Monday – obviously if you follow the final poll it will be self-evident. But here’s how the three semi-finals went.
My first one was somewhat of a surprise, but not really:
- afterthegoldrush (#5 seed) – 53 votes (71.6%)
- Delmarva Shorebirds Blog (#9 seed) – 20 votes (27.0%)
- Delmar DustPan (#1 seed) – 1 vote (1.4%)
It was a surprise that my #1 seed – which had 367 votes in the first round – only got one vote in the semi-final. But I think I know why it did, because it had a particular website as its opposition. I figured afterthegoldrush would do well, though, since it’s won the first two editions of my contest in 2010 and 2011. And Delmarva Shorebirds Blog was only a #9 seed because it was a wild card – in reality it had the fourth-highest vote total in the first round.
Semifinal #2 was fairly disappointing with the lack of participation. I think it’s because that was conducted over last weekend, when a lot of people were not paying attention because the NFL playoffs were on and the weather was nice:
- Chesapeake Journal (#7 seed) – 7 votes (63.6%)
- Right Coast Conservative (#2 seed) – 4 votes (36.4%)
- Random Thoughts of a Citymouse (#6 seed) – no votes
Honestly, I thought Right Coast Conservative would mop up the competition because it had a first-round vote total far higher than the others. Instead the St. Michael’s-based website moves on to the finals.
The last semifinal was, at least, a little interesting. And it featured yet another (mild) upset:
- Delmarva Progressive (#4 seed) – 10 votes (58.8%)
- The Other Salisbury News (#8 seed) – 4 votes (23.5%)
- Sussex County Angel (#3 seed) – 3 votes (17.7%)
It’s intriguing to me that a left-wing blog won on my right-leaning website, but stranger things have happened.
So on we go to the finals, which will be put up shortly and, because I’ve found weekend polls don’t work so well, will get a few extra days for more opportunities to vote.
Now, the other good news: monoblogue has yet another local sponsor. I’d like to thank local attorney Charles Jannace for jumping on board, and encourage more to do the same. As my readership grows, you may find blog advertising to be an affordable yet effective tool in bringing in business. And only a few spots are left because I’m limiting the number of ads sold here. (Less clutter that way.)
So patronize all my local sponsors and tell others they can help too. As you can see, my rates are very affordable.
The first domino to fall?
Well, that didn’t take long. This morning the Sears Holdings conglomerate, which operates both Sears and KMart stores around the country, announced over 100 underperforming stores would be closing in the next few months. It’s too early to tell whether any of the stores on this part of Delmarva will be among the victims – there are KMart stores in both Salisbury and Rehoboth Beach, a full-service Sears at the Centre of Salisbury, a smaller Sears in Seaford, and Sears Hometown stores in Rehoboth Beach, Milford, Easton, and Onley.
The story cites one expert who claims Sears “offers a depressing shopping experience and uncompetitive prices.” To be honest, I work there more than I shop there and neither is done all that much. But I’m told their prices are fairly steep and most of the clientele I see when I am in there is older.
Yet the trouble also extends to KMart, as the combined concern reported same-store sales for those open a year or more were off 5.2% for the most recent quarter, which included the holiday season.
I don’t often delve into business stories like this, but if you read my Christmas message you’ll note that I pondered what the retail season may bring:
I suppose if I see a lot of “Going Out Of Business” signs in 2012 I’ll know there was a lot of coal left in retailer’s stockings.
Well, looks like Sears and KMart may have received a double dose of anthracite. It’ll be interesting to see how other retailers do once the holiday season numbers come in, and also whether any local Sears stores are on the chopping block.
The antithesis of smart growth
Read the quoted paragraph and tell me what’s wrong with this picture. It comes from a Washington Times story by David Hill, from Wednesday:
The population of the District of Columbia is growing faster than that of any state in the country, according to a new U.S. Census report that shows an acceleration of a trend in which largely skilled and educated workers have flocked to the city’s resilient local economy and its well-paying jobs connected to the federal government.
I don’t begrudge people getting jobs, but shouldn’t we be trying to lessen the influence of the federal government?
And a reason for the growth Hill cites in the story strikes me as ironic:
Former Mayor Anthony A. Williams, who served from 1999 to 2007, is credited with starting the trend with a pro-development, business-friendly agenda that helped revive the downtown commercial districts and neglected neighborhoods while improving schools and public safety.
So are we to assume that a conservative agenda would create growth? That’s the way I read this, as the Radical Green platform can’t stand development and wants to punish business aside from a few certain favored industries. Lord knows our federal government doesn’t have a “pro-development, business-friendly agenda” with the guy in charge now, not by a long shot. Yet that approach turns out to be a boon for Washington; unfortunately their gain is our pain.
Obviously there will always be a group of people who work in government, even if it is rightsized. There are legitimate functions which need to be performed and can only be done through that arena. But I wouldn’t mind seeing the population of the District of Columbia decline, or simply grow only because Washington is a nice city with plenty of tourism possibilities because of its history. Those who thrive because of the ever-increasing size and scope of the nanny state are the ones I’d love to see get real jobs – after all, the world needs ditch diggers too.
And yet they blame farmers?
There was a story in yesterday’s Baltimore Sun by Timothy Wheeler which was brought to my attention, a story which documented the troubles both Baltimore City and County are having with a sewage infrastructure which, in some cases, is over a century old. Between the two municipalities over 160 million gallons of untreated sewage has leaked into the watershed this year alone.
Obviously this is a situation which is slowly being addressed, as the story points out over $2 billion is being invested into repairing the system over the next decade. Certainly that’s a legitimate function of government, and I have no objection to local tax dollars being used in such a manner.
It’s the unfortunate tendency of farmers and rural interests getting the blame for a problem that occurs because of urban areas like Baltimore City and County which bothers me the most.
Taxes and Keystone
So, President Obama wants to extend the payroll tax cut. Okay, said House Republicans, but we’re going to create a whole bunch of jobs with it by giving the green light to the Keystone XL pipeline.
I’ll let Andy Harris pick things up from here:
“Americans need the truly ‘shovel-ready’ jobs and economic investment that the Keystone XL Pipeline will provide,” said Rep. Andy Harris (MD-01). “The plan that the House majority has introduced is an excellent compromise that will extend tax cuts to the middle class, create tens of thousands of jobs, and will help secure America’s energy future. I am deeply disappointed that President Obama has promised to veto this bill to extend tax relief to our citizens over the Keystone pipeline provision that actually creates jobs without spending a dime of taxpayer money while lowering the price of gasoline and diesel as well.”
Yes, President Obama is threatening to veto the measure. So much for compromise.
Either one of the two points below would then be true. Come to think about it, maybe both are:
- President Obama doesn’t really want to create jobs. Well, perhaps he doesn’t unless they happen to be either government jobs or positions in an industry he favors. But I have news for the President: there aren’t any green jobs; shoot, right now there aren’t many jobs period. Or:
- President Obama really has no desire to cut taxes. To be honest, this tax cut he gave out was relatively insignificant to working families. But he certainly wants to lower the boom on more successful working families by increasing the taxes for couples that make over $200,000.
I’ll grant that the Keystone XL pipeline probably won’t do a whole lot for our local economy since it will run through several states in the Midwest. But the additional oil supply will help us in the long run by stabilizing gasoline prices, as Congressman Harris points out.
But if we do elect a new President next year, I hope Congressman Harris – assuming he’s re-elected, for which he’s an odds-on favorite at the moment – will begin to advocate solutions for our tax code which are more permanent and will begin the process of weaning the government off an income-based tax collection. Ramping up a consumption-based tax, as Herman Cain proposed with his economic plan, would serve this purpose.
Electing conservatives isn’t enough – we need to elect those who have the courage to act. Whether you like President Obama or despise his policies as much as I do, the one thing you can say is that he acted in trying to get his agenda done. We may only have four years to undo the damage he did, although I suspect that if a true conservative succeeds Obama he (or she) will have a full eight years to make a difference. But we’ll all have to roll up our sleeves and get to work – something sorely lacking with the Obama regime.
And now for something completely different:
The first of six opening round tilts in my best local blog poll is over, and the first semi-finalist will be Right Coast Conservative.
After a strong start, Julie Brewington’s site saw a rally from the Shorebirds’ blog which placed it ahead for a time. But much like their team’s performance in 2011, the Shorebirds site couldn’t hang on in the late innings as a strong push from RCC readers carried Julie’s site in the end. Right Coast Conservative received 143 votes and moves on, while the Delmarva Shorebirds Blog gathered 66. The Pocomoke Public Eye did not receive a vote.
The second round is up now, and it has an interesting draw to be sure.
Occupying the basement?
You know, there was supposed to be a protest in Salisbury yesterday. But I’m pretty convinced the Occupy movement doesn’t have much traction, or, for that matter, a fawning press, within these local confines. I had better things to do than to cover these whiners, but one local blog and one local news station delivered short new items on the protests.
Perhaps a tactic change is in order? Well, we’re not exactly a major metropolitan area but I suspect we have a few people around who are as nuts as these people photojournalist ‘El Marco’ detailed in Denver.
It’s more than that, though. One has to ask what possible grievance these committed liberals really have? I suppose it’s because they don’t have absolute control of all the levers of power? Maybe they would like to institute a dose of fascism, allowing the businesses they choose to survive while others are crushed under the bootheel of regulations written in tandem by these chosen businesses and government bureaucrats? It’s the way we are headed under this regime.
By no means am I a fan of crony capitalism, as I think the rules should be simple and fair for everyone who wants to play. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re ExxonMobil, Walmart, or the corner store – everyone should compete on as level of a playing field as possible. It’s why America was enough of a land of opportunity for ExxonMobil and Walmart to get to their level, but apparently somebody wants to close the door now that they’re safely inside.
There’s something to like about the idea of protest, as the Occupy movement is billed as the flip side of the TEA Party protests – well, TEA Party protesters tend not to get arrested, deal drugs, copulate (willingly or not) in sleeping bags, or trash their surroundings, yet the idea is sort of the same – but there’s the question of identity.
People may not have agreed with every facet of the TEA Party’s demands and their use of our Constitutional right to peaceably assemble, but the TEA Party’s theory of restoring power to the people resonated with a large number of voters. On the other hand, the narcissistic entitlement mentality of the Occupy movement abuses that right of assembly by trashing its surroundings and committing violence in the name of exerting their rights. Anyone walking by Zuccotti Park may wonder what they are getting into, although by many accounts pedestrian traffic is being driven away thanks to the garbage and smell.
Fortunately, the Salisbury protest was of much shorter duration and peaceful – perhaps thanks to the watchful eye of the law. But for how much longer?
In print: Don’t put politics above security
This is a column I submitted to the Daily Times. A slightly longer version was submitted to another Maryland outlet.
In the 2011 session of the Maryland General Assembly, members of the House of Delegates tried and failed to get the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Act of 2011 through the legislature. Undaunted by that legislative defeat, in early June Gov. Martin O’Malley signed an executive order to study an oil and natural gas-field process called hydraulic fracturing, with a final report not required until August 2014. It’s a demand to study a process used in more than one million U.S. wells during the past 60 years.
In layman’s terms, “fracking,” as the procedure is better known, uses a solution forced into hard underground rock formations to create tiny fissures. The fissures allow energy resources — in Maryland’s case, natural gas — to be released and extracted.
(Continued at delmarvanow.com…)
Pumpin’ and dumpin’: the return
Even after all these years, capitalism still fascinates me.
This is the long-awaited sequel to a post I did nearly five years ago that was among my most well-received at the time. But instead of junk faxes at my former place of employment – for all I know he may still be getting them – a number of hucksters have moved on to slick e-mail marketing campaigns, sent out with the imprimatur of reputable websites like Townhall, Human Events, or the Washington Times. Of the ten penny stocks I’ll feature today, seven were featured in a Human Events e-mail blast, six in missives from the Times, and five from Townhall. These were all sent out to me back in March; I gave the stocks six months to see how they’d perform on a longer term.
Back on the day I received the last e-mail I saved on behalf of each company, this is how they were doing:
- Allezoe Medical Holdings, Inc. (ALZM) – $1.78 per share
- 5BARz International, Inc. (BARZ) – $1.50 per share
- Davi Luxury Brand Group, Inc. (DAVI) – $1.00 per share
- First American Silver Corp. (FASV) – $1.12 per share
- Liberty Energy Corp. (LBYE) – $0.50 per share
- Vendum Batteries, Inc. (VNDB) – $0.23 per share
- China Botanic Pharmaceutical (CBP) – $1.76 per share
- Mercer Gold Corporation (MRGP) – $0.0975 per share
- Coyote Resources, Inc. (COYR) – $2.40 per share
- Uranerz Energy Corporation (URZ) – $4.57 per share
Would an investment strategy of placing a $10,000 order based on $1,000 for each investment have paid off? Well, here is how they closed yesterday, with the number in parentheses the new stock value. You be the judge.
- ALZM – $0.39 ($219.10)
- BARZ – $0.25 ($166.67)
- MDAV – $0.02 ($20.00)
- FASV – $0.20 ($178.57)
- LBYE – $0.08 ($160.00)
- VNDB – $0.09 ($391.30)
- CBP – $1.00 ($568.18)
- MRGP – $0.09 ($923.08)
- COYR – $0.51 ($212.50)
- URZ – $1.49 ((326.04)
Wow – and I thought the federal government ran up a deficit. That $10,000 stake melted down to $3165.44 – a stunning 68% loss in value! (There’s more after the jump.)
New advertiser
If you’ll notice in the right-hand sidebar, there’s a new advertiser here at monoblogue.
But it’s much more than an ad. I was asked by the publisher of Salisbury4Rent to contribute content, and the first issue is my print magazine debut. Each quarter you’ll be able to read an editorial piece I’ll write on “anything from politics to sports to music to whatever else strikes me as the publishing deadline approaches.” I share billing in this issue with Salisbury City Council member Laura Mitchell (the subject of the magazine’s first interview) and national political observer Lew Rockwell.
While the magazine is advertiser-supported (thus, free for the taking at a number of local distribution points) its success depends on patronizing these advertisers and spreading the word. It’s not a coffee-table glossy full of fluff pieces about the advertisers like Metropolitan, but reading one can sink their teeth into. Once you get your hands on the issue, you’ll wish it came out more than once a quarter.
Running a magazine is a tough business, but Salisbury4Rent has some solid backers and well-written commentary. I encourage you to give it a try. As a special treat for those outside Salisbury, I’ll link to my article once the content portion of the magazine goes online in the next few days.
‘Buffett Rule’ = unintended consequences
Really – how dumb does President Obama think we are? He’s playing that old tired class envy card again.
His latest scheme goes like this:
Middle-class families shouldn’t have to pay a higher tax rate than millionaires and billionaires.
So President Obama has proposed the “Buffett Rule,” which would require the wealthiest Americans to pay a tax rate at least as high as the middle class. Republicans are already calling this “class warfare,” and they will fight this plan with everything they have.
Yeah, that will do wonders for investment and job creation. So I don’t call it ‘class warfare’, I call it ‘sheer stupidity.’
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