Moffitt Envy

The Moulton cartoon, and the accompanying peanut-gallery comments, are an excellent example of envy and reactionary silly spit-ball politics.

"Why can't we get glowing reviews? Waah."
"Let's make fun of the way he looks. That'll show 'em. Hah."

The truth is that Rep. Moffitt has been very effective (using the rules Democrats put in place) in protecting property rights through forcible-annexation reform and ETJ restrictions, protecting voting rights through district elections, protecting commerce rights by allowing breweries to sell their own beer, protecting public safety through launching investigations into CTS contamination, protecting regional assets through airport and water system authority transfers.

The list goes on: http://nc116.com/

And all that the envious belly-achers can do is complain that he's handsome? You gotta laugh.
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From The campaign trail: A look at what happened this week in local politics
By Jake Frankel, Mountain Xpress, 07/28/2012

Sex discrimination complaint filed against ABCCM

‎"1. Accept jurisdiction and fully investigate these claims"

The Department of Labor should be abolished. They have absolutely NO legitimate jurisdiction over the affairs of innocent private organizations conducting their own businesses as they see fit. (Innocent means that they have not curtailed or in any way interfered with the rights of others. No one has a right to the labor, time, effort, property or capital of another.) If anyone takes issue with ABCCM's conduct of business, they would have the option (if we had a free market) of competing with ABCCM for consumers of their products or services. The problem is not private business. The problem is government interference in an unfree market in service-delivery. The violation of individual rights is what the Southern Poverty Law Center advocates. This kind of oppression against free-acting private organizations is illiberal and offensive to the American ideal of political and economic freedom.

UPDATE

By Baruch: "Timothy, let me get this right. You are saying that it is ok for the tax exempt church to discriminate against female veterans. Did I get that correct? If so, please explain to me how that is ok and moral and right and legal because I don't get it."

1. You got that correct.

2. As I indicated above, in a free market, which we do not have, it is morally right for a business enterprise, whether for profit or not, to be conducted in any way the business or property owner sees fit so long as this does not violating another person's rights. No one has the right to not be discriminated against and you cannot legislate morality. However, a property owner does and ought to have the right to use and dispose of his property, or business, as he sees fit, whether or not it is a public accommodation.

I support the Tiger Mountain Thirst Parlour Bele Chere Declaration of Discrimination. This policy may be unfair to non-locals but it is not the place of government to force someone to be fair. This would be a matter for private individuals to sort out without resorting to force.

The complicating factor in this matter is government interference in the form of tax exemptions, subsidies and regulation. This is what constitutes an unfree market and it is the source of conflict in this case.

The only thing immoral in these cases is the discrimination by the government against business and property owners in the exercise of their rights. This constitutes the infringement of the rights of some for the benefit of others which abrogates the very principle of rights.
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From: Sex discrimination complaint filed against ABCCM
Mountain Xpress

Collateral Damage: The Cost Of Getting Ahead

Another unfounded attack on Rand.

Tom Sullivan: "Ayn Rand calls us all to be Übermenschen, and screw your neighbor."

Uh huh.

I'm sure Mr. Sullivan can help us understand how he came to draw this conclusion. Specifically in what way does Ayn Rand call for us to be supermen and screw our neighbor?
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[submitted 7/23/2012 10:07a]

UPDATE:

[blank out]

UPDATE:

Tom Sullivan: "Aurora and LIBOR occur in a cultural milieu that celebrates the rogue cop, the maverick, the reckless, financial wildcatter, the toxic-mortgage-bundling banker as heroic, as someone who, in pursuit of personal greatness is entitled by his talent and daring to flout laws meant only for us lessers. Ayn Rand’s Howard Roark, for example. John Allison, former CEO of banking giant BB&T, is spending money to teach that crap in business schools."

Specifically in what ways do fictional hero Howard Roark or successful businessman John Allison "flout laws"?

UPDATE:

matcatastrophe: "If you were interested in actually defending your hero, perhaps you could actually explain how the characters are being maligned here."

The burden is on the person making a positive assertion, not the person asking for proof.

You have offered a non-responsive answer. But, then, it's a tough one, isn't it?
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From Collateral Damage: The Cost Of Getting Ahead
Scrutiny Hooligans

Missing The Obvious

Democracy has always had a negative connotation. The founders were quite clear about that and took great pains to ensure that this country did not become one -- ever.

For all you pro-democracy (mob rule) types, just keep in mind that it was democracy that gave you Amendment One. Nice goin'.
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Congratulations to John Allison. I'm liking Cato more and more.
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From: Missing The Obvious
Scrutiny Hooligans

Pamela O'Brien

I met Pamela in Atlanta in 1974 at a meeting of local spiritual seekers and then joined her in California shortly thereafter to continue our pursuits. I found her to be a wise and remarkable woman throughout my acquaintance with her and her husband Dale. She made a deep impression on me at the time as a warm, cheerful and gentle human being and I never forgot her. Every decade or so, I would wonder where she was. Now, in the internet age, I just searched for her name, once again, and found her obituary. I'm crying and I don't know what to say or do.

"Pamela O'Brien passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family and friends on May 4, 2012 at the age of 62 after a long battle with breast cancer."

I am grateful that our lives intertwined for a brief moment in time. The picture above is from those days when I knew her, and talked, and shared aspirations of another kind. A dear friend, she was. Lost to us now.

Here is an animated photo album of her life:

Fracking, Racial Justice, and Budget Vetoes Overridden

"Can we talk about Republicans being so all-fired in favor of filling their cigarette lighters at the kitchen sink"

There is actually a place in New York called Burning Springs known for its flammable water — hence the name “Burning Springs.” Discovered in 1669, the springs were burning away well before fracking.


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Fracking, Racial Justice, and Budget Vetoes Overridden
Scrutiny Hooligan

UPDATED

Matt replied: "That’s pretty stupid, even for you."

That's all you have? -- "you're stupid"? Not one single argument.

OK. 'Ad hominem.' You lose. Thanks.

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tatuaje replied: "Because it is natural in one instance then all instances therefore must be natural? That seems to be your premise."

STRAW MAN

No. One instance of a thing that is naturally occurring does not necessarily suggest that all instances of the same thing are also naturally occurring. That is not my premise.

My premise is that disinformation generates false conclusions and false claims and should be supplanted with accuracy. Supplying only the information that supports a bias is lying by omission.

The phenomenon of flammable gas in tapwater did not arise simultaneously with the emergence of the technology of fracking, as the anti-fracking propagandists in the movie 'Gasland' and elsewhere would have us believe. And the assertion that people who support hydraulic fracturing as a means of extracting natural gas are "Republicans that favor filling their cigarette lighters at the kitchen sink," which is based on this disinformation, is an unhelpful partisan smear.

The truth is that fracking occurs well below water tables and there is no evidence of any connection between the practice and flammable tapwater.
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