Right Opposition

Harry Reid is a walking, talking example of what is wrong with Congress. The Nevada Senator is more interested in scoring points politically than in putting Americans to work. This piece from CNBC details efforts to reach a compromise on the Bush era tax breaks that will soon expire. Reid wants a vote on a partial package of reforms that will almost certainly not pass just so he can do damage to the Republicans.

Hey Harry! Get a clue. Voters want solutions not retread Senators more interested in politics than jobs.

“Alabama” and “socialism” don’t seem to belong in the same sentence. But a blog over at CNBC suggests that Alabama is the third most socialist state in the union. TheStreet blog lists The Most Socialist States in America. The top 10 are surprising along with who is not in the list, there’s no mention of Massachusetts or California. But Alabama sits in the third spot. Alabama is the third most socialist state in the nation, topped only by Alaska and West Virginia!

The methodology is in the numbers themselves. Since socialism is concisely defined as state ownership of the means of production, none of these states are actually socialist. They do all share confiscatory tax policies however. In the case of Alabama, state budget spending exceeds 27.4% of Alabama’s GDP. It’s that number that causes Alabama to rank so high. Mississippi and Arkansas join Alabama on the list at 6 and 8 respectively.

It points out that people like their government services regardless of what it takes to get them. For most people in Alabama we hold to two of the three triads of conservatism: Social issues and Military strength. Conservative economic issues are often overlooked. Remember, it was a Republican governor, Bob Riley, who proposed the single biggest tax hike in state history in 2003. It would have been a whooping $1.2 billion bonanza for state coffers. Alabama is also largely union controlled through efforts of the teachers union, AEA and what could be called the farmers union, ALFA. Fortunately for Alabama the two groups often work at cross purposes or else there would be trouble.

Given Alabama’s often low ranking on various measures, one wonders where the state would rank if all of the inefficiencies were removed. That would mean cutting waste, dropping taxes,slicing programs and letting people rediscover the art of self-sufficiency. Just my thoughts. Yours?

Alabama’s junior senator, Jeff Sessions (R-AL) who is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted to give the United States Attorney General the power to  shutdown websites, using a court order, if  that website makes copyright infringement central to its activities. This is a huge bow to the Hollywood recording industry and places tremendous power in the hands of a single person.

Copyright infringement is serious business and strong laws are already in place to prevent it. Originators of content have every right to protect and use their work as intended and to be paid when that work is used by others. However the unanimous decision to vote out the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) is extreme and draconian.

The bill, which must still be approved by the full Senate and the House before arriving on the President’s desk, is unlikely to become law. But it points to a serious flaw in Sessions armor and a greater flaw in his wisdom.

The federal government is not authorized to act as a private security cop for the recording industry. No such law, which could deprive one of their means of employment, should be predicated on only a simple court order. Only after due process should any business face closure. If the recording industry can make their case and if other, less onerous methods cannot be applied, then let the court order the closure. But we should never entrust government to take the lead and make such decisions apart from due process.

Bad judgment Senator. I don’t think you were well advised.