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Andy Warhol described it, Frank Clark is taking advantage of it.  The recent arrest of the bike path rapist/murderer has our DA, Frank Clark, popping up all over the local media.  Is it just me?  Or, is his overly orgasmic demeanor just a bit over the top?

or·gasm (ôr‘g?z’?m)
n.

1. The peak of sexual excitement, characterized by strong feelings of pleasure and by a series of involuntary contractions of the muscles of the genitals, usually accompanied by the ejaculation of semen by the male. Also called climax.
2. A similar point of intensity of emotional excitement.

intr.v., -gasm·ed (-g?z’?md), -gasm·ing (-g?z’?-m?ng), -gasms (-g?z’?mz).

To experience an orgasm.

[French orgasme or New Latin orgasmus, both from Greek orgasmos, from org?n, to swell up, be excited.]

orgasmic or·gas‘mic (ôr-g?z‘m?k) or or·gas‘tic (-t?k) adj.
orgasmically or·gas‘mi·cal·ly or or·gas‘ti·cal·ly adv.

[tags]Buffalo, New York, Frank Clark, bike path rapist, bike path murders, crime, District Attorney[/tags]

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Frequently we hear that the trade deficit is bad and causes job loses.  That lack of reasoning is nothing but a red herring used to promote protectionist trade policies that distort the true value of goods.  The trade policies do real damage.  Protectionism is favored by unions and businesses seeking to gain an advantage through regulation.  Protectionism is favored by politicians who wish to appear to be doing something positive.  The price for protectionism is paid by consumers.

I’m told to worry about the trade deficit.

Commentators and populist politicians are wringing their hands. The trade deficit is a “malignant tumor in the intestines of the U.S. economy,” says Pat Buchanan. Lou Dobbs is very upset that “We’re borrowing about $3 billion a day just to pay for our imports”!

Economists had taught me that the trade deficit is not a big deal. (The budget deficit may be a big one, but that’s a different issue.) But with all the pundits and politicians alarmed, I began to wonder if I was out of touch.

Then I thought about my local supermarket. I buy stuff from the Food Emporium every week. I spend thousands of dollars a year there. But the supermarket never buys anything from me. Not one thing.

And yet that is no problem. It’s better than no problem — it’s fantastic! Imagine if I could only buy from the store to the extent that it needed my services. I’d starve. That would be barter, and mankind dumped barter for the money economy eons ago precisely because it is so inconvenient.

Trade statistics obscure reality. Individuals exchange only when each expects to benefit. If they didn’t expect it, they wouldn’t trade. That’s true even if one party is American and the other Chinese. Trade is trade.

If we don’t care about trade balances at the individual level, why does it matter if in a given year Americans as a group buy more from the Chinese than they buy from us?

It doesn’t.

Read the rest: Townhall.com::Losing Sleep over the Trade Deficit?::By John Stossel

[tags]trade deficit, economy, economics, balance of trade, John Stossel, trade, jobs, unemployment[/tags]

Demone Smith is showing his inability as a politician.  He’s demonstrating that original thought is not required.  Anyone can jump on the bandwagon of Statist Nannyism, how about doing something about taxes, regulations and the anti-business climate!  HT to Ryan with his ass-hat of the year nomination for Demone Smith.

Buffalo restaurants would be banned from using trans fats under a law that will be proposed this week by the city’s newest Common Council member.

Eating establishments that use artificial fats are harming people’s health, Demone A. Smith of the Masten District said Tuesday as lawmakers met with a group that is lobbying for the ban.

“It’s like eating plastic,” Smith said of trans fats, which are partially hydrogenated fats.

The local move comes a month after New York City approved a first-in-the-nation ban on artificial fats in restaurants. Last week, an assemblyman from Brooklyn introduced a bill that would outlaw trans fat products in chain restaurants throughout the state.

Local advocates said they envision a ban in Buffalo applying to restaurants of all sizes, even small takeout establishments. But a restaurant coalition that represents 7,000 outlets statewide urged Buffalo officials to reject such restrictions.

Gretchen Fisher of the New York State Restaurant Association said customers should be allowed to decide for themselves where they eat.

“We really hate to see consumer choice being regulated. It’s a slippery slope,” she said.

I posted a poll to see how people feel about the issue of government regulating what we eat.  Currently, 74% of the respondents agree with me that what we put in to our mouths, is our business.

Trans-fat bans are nothing more than a veiled attempt by politicians  making it look like they are doing something worthwhile.  What they are really doing is setting a very dangerous precedent that leaves us open to even more intrusive regulations.  At this rate, obesity will become a crime and the fat police will be showing up at people’s front doors with arrest warrants.  Even the American Heart Association opposes the ban on trans fats.

Knee-jerk reactions, like Demone Smith’s, result in unintended consequences and the use of other unhealthy alternatives to trans fats.  The better choice is to put the facts out there and let the people decide what to eat.  The AHA is working with businesses to develop healthy alternatives.  A ban does not do that.  As people choose to eat healthier, business will respond with healthier alternatives.  A free-market does a better job responding to the needs and wants of consumers than government can, even on its best day.

I urge everyone to contact their Common Council member to oppose this ridiculous, wasteful legislation. Contact information can be found here.

Source: Buffalo News - Ban on trans fats in city restaurants to be proposed to Council this week

[tags]trans fat, health, libertarian, choice, liberty, nanny state, government, regulation, ass hat, Demone Smith, Buffalo, New York, laws, restaurant[/tags]

Ron Paul is anti-war, pro-economy, pro-individual and anti-big government.  Hillary Clinton can not unequivocally make those claims.  In fact, very few politicians can.

Pre-Ron Paul, John McCain was the presumptive nominee in my view. For many reasons I believed Hillary would beat him. Reason number one is his ferocious support of the failed war in Iraq. If it’s Hillary versus McCain, Hillary has the good fortune of being the antiwar choice even though she supported the war.

All that being the case, why in the world would she want to upset the applecart and face an unknown commodity like Ron Paul? She has nothing to gain and everything to lose. The expression “beware of the amateur” comes to mind. Not that Ron Paul is an amateur but the principle applies just the same. Hillary knows exactly what McCain will do and say, but she has no playbook on Ron Paul. Nobody does. It’s an entirely unpredictable race. She’d take McCain any day over the Great Unknown.

Now, consider the fact that on the key issue of the campaign, the Iraq War, Ron Paul beats Hillary. He voted against the war and she for it. On three other key issues, the economy, immigration and health care, Ron Paul’s views should fare quite well against Hillary’s.

Read it all: The Great Unknown by James Ostrowski

[tags]Ron Paul, Hillary Clinton, president, presidential race, politics, election, economy, health care, libertarian, free-market, republican[/tags]