Meet Mark Lloyd: The FCC’s “Diversity Boss”

by Crocker December 11, 2010

When I was a boy – and way before the web – I was heavily involved in amateur radio. On the commercial shortwave bands, it was the politics of the world, delivered to my bedroom. I could tell the stations broadcasting from communist countries because of the dreary, robotic, stultifying propaganda. There was no imagination, [...]

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The Left: They’re Coming for the Internet and the Media

by Crocker December 11, 2010

I’ve been watching this move for a couple of years now – the left being the left, they’re going to do their damnedest to shut down dissenting voices. And that means they want to shut down talk radio, Fox News and try to control content on the Internet. I don’t think I’m being paranoid – [...]

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Slow Strangulation: Welcome to the Administrative State

by Crocker December 10, 2010

On December 3rd, it was my very great pleasure to speak to the Knox County Tea Party. My topic was the “The Regulatory State: How We Got Here and How We Stop It”. The ‘regulatory state’ is, of course, the gigantic federal and state administrative bureaucracies that churn out endless regulations controlling everything down to [...]

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The Fourth Amendment

by Crocker November 27, 2010

In light of the TSA’s new “enhanced” security measures, it’s well to read the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in its entirety: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable [...]

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The TSA, Somali Teenagers and Christmas

by Crocker November 27, 2010

Thus far, I’ve resisted the impulse to chastise the TSA – even though I hold that peculiar organization in low esteem. As a practiced air traveler, I’ve been through airport security around the globe and I have little good to say either about the TSA or the policies handed down by Homeland Security. I’m one [...]

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Nigel Farage: “Just Who the Hell Do You Think You People Are?

by Crocker November 26, 2010

I’m one of those people who think that the EU and its “Parliament” are more or less a joke – a dangerous joke to be sure, but still a joke. The EU and its unaccountable bureaucratic apparatus is everything that the Progressive movement could wish for and everything that freedom-loving Americans instinctively resist. We last [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving

by Crocker November 25, 2010

As I’ve noted in years past, Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday both for its religious and family associations. Thanksgiving resonates, however, precisely because it reminds us to be grateful even during uncertain times. As Jews and Christians have long noted, ingratitude is one of the very worst sins because it provokes envy and turns [...]

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Deficit Spending and the Looming Confrontation

by Crocker November 19, 2010

When it comes to the runaway spending train in Washington, I fear we’re beyond the realm of polite measures. Some of the noises coming from the old-guard Republicans in Washington seem to indicate that the clubhouse rules still apply, however. At this point, we have to gird up our loins for a fight – a [...]

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Jay Rockefeller: The FCC Should Take Fox News and MSNBC Off the Air

by Crocker November 18, 2010

Don’t you just wish, Senator. SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV): “There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse; our ability to do our work here in Congress, and to the American [...]

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Hayek v. Keynes – Fear the Boom and Bust Sequel

by Crocker November 17, 2010

Hayek and Keynes have a rematch after their epic rap, “Fear the Boom and Bust”. Hat tip to Moody over at Wealth Alchemy.

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“Wait and See” – Doing Business in the Age of Obama

by Crocker November 17, 2010

Moody and I have been harping since 2008 that our limp business cycle is due to uncertainly. Put less elegantly, the U.S. government has been scaring the crap out of business and consumers alike while piling on the debt, regulations and taxes. Under such circumstances, nobody – and I mean nobody – is willing to [...]

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Time to Shut-Down the FDA?

by J. Scott Moody November 17, 2010

Following on David’s post about the “cupcake police,” I found this article to be terribly upsetting . . . the FDA is proposing to “effectively ban” energy drinks.  Say what?! I gotta have my energy drink since I am: a) not a coffee person and b) not a morning person.  So I prefer my morning [...]

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Big Brother Wants to Disable Our Cell Phones

by Crocker November 17, 2010

On Joe Scarborough’s show yesterday morning, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced his campaign against cell phone use in cars. He’s been mulling this scheme over for awhile but now he seems ready to roll it out. As Ed Morrissey observes, however, the CDC and NTSB have both reported steadily falling highway fatalities – particularly among [...]

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The Annals of the Regulatory State

by Crocker November 17, 2010

Anyone reading this blog knows that I have a problem with the administrative state generally and business licensing in particular. The abuses perpetrated in the name of licensing are too legion even to notice after a while, but now and then there’s a story so outrageous that it cries out for ridicule. From the New [...]

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Barney Frank, Ex-Congressman?

by Crocker October 29, 2010

I’ve never made any secret of my loathing for Barney Frank. He’s the poster boy for all the arrogant, nasty, loud-mouthed, entitled leftists I’ve ever met. I hold him personally responsible for permitting the corrupt Fannie and Freddie money machine to continue unabated while honest people – including President Bush – were trying to clean [...]

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Obama v. Lincoln: On “Punishing” One’s Enemies

by Crocker October 27, 2010

During the 2008 campaign and thereafter, Hope ‘n Change famously postured himself as a Lincolnesque figure. His rhetoric, however, has been somewhat different. In a radio interview that aired on Univision on Monday, Mr. Obama sought to assure Hispanics that he would push an immigration overhaul after the midterm elections, despite fierce Republican opposition. “If [...]

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Federal Auditor: Obama’s Anti-Foreclosure Program Risks Public Backlash

by Crocker October 26, 2010

From the, er, Huffington Post. The Obama administration’s signature anti-foreclosure effort, unveiled in 2009 with the promise of helping three to four million homeowners modify their mortgages, is such a failure that it now risks “generating public anger and mistrust,” according to a federal audit released Monday. Far from helping at-risk homeowners, the Home Affordable [...]

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60 Minutes: Unemployment is More Like 17-22%

by Crocker October 25, 2010

Bet they get a spanking for this. No work at NPR for you! Hat tip to Jammie Wearing Fool.

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That Education Bubble

by Crocker October 25, 2010

Ever notice that college tuition always goes up and never down? Like a lot of parents, I’m hemorrhaging money to a very pricey private college. Aw, hell, why not just say it – it’s Denver University. Without fail, the fees and tuition go up each year – regardless of the economy. There’s a bubble economy [...]

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Strator: Rumors of the Chinese Central Bank Chief’s Defection

by Crocker August 30, 2010

Stratfor is reporting a rumor that the head of China’s Central Bank has left the country, apparently one step ahead of the sheriff. Rumors have circulated in China that People’s Bank of China (PBC) Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan may have left the country. The rumors appear to have started following reports on Aug. 28 which cited [...]

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Reflections on Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” Rally

by Crocker August 30, 2010

I attended the Glenn Beck rally on August 28th with about 300,000 of my closest friends. I went more or less as an observer – I am not a hard-core Beck devotee, although I often watch his Fox News program when the 5-6 pm hour is free. While I think there is a good deal [...]

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Texas to EPA: Shove It

by Crocker August 12, 2010

Pat Caddell recently opined that the American peoples’ mood – after being repeatedly shoved by the radical left – is ‘pre-revolutionary’. Ordinarily, I’d be inclined to dismiss Pat’s comment as hyperbolic but these are certainly not ordinary times. If you doubt me, simply consider Texas and the EPA. As we know by now, the EPA [...]

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Milovan Djilas and the Ruling Class

by Crocker August 11, 2010

The chief visible product of leftism is a feigned egalitarianism. While Marx and his disciples claimed to create a classless society, the reality was of course quite different. There are always the insiders, the ones who scheme and maneuver, who look out for themselves and their friends. While this behavior is part of a universal [...]

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Quantitative Easing 2: The Federal Reserve Doubles Down

by Crocker August 11, 2010

As reported in the UK Telegraph yesterday, it appears that the Fed is considering opening the money supply spigot once again with a gargantuan round of quantitative easing, which is the fancy term for printing money. The reason? The economy is not “rebounding” as Tim Geithner told us last week in the New York Times; [...]

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Newt Gingrich: Hot and Cold

by Crocker August 11, 2010

For the last twenty years I’ve blown hot and cold on Newt Gingrich. I’ve admired his fertile mind and his ability to articulate great conservative principles. He’s a natural teacher and it shows. I’ve also admired him for the ‘Contract with America’ – the successful strategy to nationalize local congressional races that resulted in the [...]

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