Let me take a moment to promote my sister up in the NYC (Brooklyn, to be exact). She has a MySpace page set up to share her music, which she describes as indie/experimental/folk rock. And, even though Barack Obama is the second friend on her page, I want to share my sister’s talents with you.

She has been kind enough to provide some great fodder for debate in the Comments section on both sides of this blog (particularly when it comes to the writings of her brother-in-law), so I wanted to reciprocate and draw an audience in her direction.

Hey, sis! Love ya!

Nathan and I received a card of congratulations on our new arrival from Governor Bredesen and his wife today. Between you and me, I don’t think it was personally signed by “Phil” and “Andrea” themselves (who knew we were on first-name basis with our state’s head executive?).

The point of the card is to remind new parents to get their baby immunized. A tear-out tab is included to take to the doctor’s office. My favorite sentence of the card is as follows:

“Please take your infant to be immunized before two months of age.”

Catherine celebrated her three-month birthday on Saturday. Whoops! Gotta love that government efficiency!

Despite the lack of timely concern from the Governor, Catherine has had all of her required immunizations up to this point. And, I think she somewhat enjoys them. After getting stuck the first time, she screamed for a second and then glared at the nurse with a “is that all you’ve got, woman” look.

It is a nice gesture for the Governor’s office to mail out these cards. However, I hope that Tennessee doesn’t see a rise in diphtheria because some parents didn’t get their congratulations/reminder to get your kid stuck with needles-card in time!

In all seriousness, it worries me to think how many new parents need a card from the government to remind them to maintain the wellness of their child.

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The Tennessee Educators (sic) Association has gone on the offensive, attacking SJR629, Jim Bryson’s proposal to limit the growth of state spending

Since Tennessee is already near the bottom of most rankings in investing in education, such a constitutional cap on spending would be severely limiting and irresponsible. SJR 629 is largely modeled after the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) which was enacted in Colorado in 1991. The 1991 provision had such a negative impact that Colorado voters last year suspended several key provisions of the amendment. SJR 629 is sponsored by Sen. Jim Bryson (R-Franklin) who recently announced that he would seek the Republican nomination to oppose Governor Phil Bredesen in this year’s election. The resolution is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee on Tuesday, April 25. TEA members are urged to contact senators on the Finance Committee and ask that they vote “NO” on SJR 629. The message should be that SJR 629 would place a “straitjacket” on the funding of essential state services, including public education. It would tie the hands of future legislatures in attempting to address the changing needs of state government.

Well, first of all there is no proven correlation between per-pupil spending and results. That myth continues to be touted as fact by educators unions without fail. Somehow the “changing needs of state government” are almost always going to include growing the size and reach of said government. The TEA’s view is myopic at best. That’s one fallacy. Hobbs takes them to task for another

Colorado’s TABOR is an extensive and complex constitutional provision that affects not just the growth of the state budget but also tax increases, creation of new taxes, and increases in bond debt - at both the state and the county and city level. And Colorado’s TABOR requires voter approval in referenda for any spending over the year-over-year growth cap, for any tax increase, for any new tax, and for any increase in bond debt.

By contrast, SJR 629 really only does three things:

1. It changes the Tennessee constitution’s existing cap on the annual growth of the state budget to allow it to be broken only if two-thirds of the legislature approves, rather than the current simple-majority vote.
2. It puts unspent surplus funds in the state’s rainy day fund.
3. Once the rainy day fund reaches a set target, additional surpluses go to reducing the state sales tax.

SJR 629 does not affect local or county budgets or taxes, has no impact on the state’s bond debt, and does not require or authorize voter referenda on such issues.

To be an educators union, one would think they would be…well, educated. Or at least generally informed. But certainly not completely clueless. Not only are they wrong in their comparison to Colorado’s experience with TABOR, they are wrong is their assessment as to what really happened in Colorado

The TEA compounds the deception by claiming that Colorado’s TABOR had “a negative impact” on Colorado’s state budget, leading voters there to “suspend” TABOR in a recent election. In a related comment,, TEA asserts SJR 629 would place a “straitjacket” on the funding of public education and “would tie the hands of future legislatures in attempting to address the changing needs of state government.”

None of that is true.

A decade ago, a few years after adopting TABOR, Colorado voters approved “Amendment 23, which exempted public education from the TABOR cap, and in fact required funding for public education to grow faster than the rest of the state budget. It was that decision which made Colorado’s budgetary position increasingly untenable. A few months ago, Colorado voters approved a plan to break the TABOR limits for five years, in order to “catch up” on the spending cuts caused by that state’s education lobby’s insatiable lust for tax dollars.

Hobbs goes on to note that with SJR629 in effect, the TEA could actually make the better case of diverting funds from less useful government programs to education. Sounds reasonable to me, but the union doesn’t want that. Unfortunately, the TEA’s scope and public policy goals are far in excess of obtaining funds for education. It’s government they want - bigger but not necessarily better.

Remember folks - the TEA is a union. They do not represent a single student. This in itself is fine, but the TEA makes an effort not to be straightforward about it, couching their rhetoric in “for the children” soundbites, which is something that the UAW or Teamsters can’t do. They oppose any proposal that would limit their power, which trumps the needs of education itself. Their opposition to SJR629 is no more noble than that.

I’m hanging out in Savannah, GA all this week. We just finished a girls’ weekend for my sister-in-law at the beach and I’m staying through her bridal shower on Sunday. So, Nathan is once again left to enjoy some solo time in Nashville. He won’t have to deal with any of my whining when he turns on James Bond movies or the Sci-Fi channel. Enjoy it now, dear!

Since Catherine will be enjoying some quality grandparent time in the evenings, I hope to get some time to actually contribute to this blog! I’ve been such a writing slacker.

Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Entrepreneurship. There were many good submissions this week, but alas, time and space are of the essence (two categories good entrepreneurs ought to be all-to-familiar with). Without further ado…

Jeffrey Strain, who began writing personal finance advice for ex-pats in Japan, has posted on the hobby-to-business growth of his wife’s Hello Kitty! enterprise

I really didn’t want to get into more detail about the entire Hello Kitty business because, let’s face it, it forces me to reveal that I know more about Hello Kitty than is healthy for any grown man to know (how many men do you know that can name all the members of Hello Kitty’s family, when she was born or how to tell her apart from her twin sister Mimmy?) Furthermore, all my ads here are going to start being for Hello Kitty related websites & items and that really will be depressing.

We won’t hold it against him, too much. In light of the monster success of Ebay, the prospect of turning one’s hobby into a business empire isn’t all that far-fetched (never was, really). But it takes time and dedication - in other words, how much do you really enjoy your hobby?

Pamela Slim warns against the paralyzing potential of fear, and how to manage fear to lessen your risk and expectedly, to maximize the reward

Fear is simply nature’s way of telling us that there is some risk involved in a situation. Here is how to face it head on so that you work with it, not against it:

1. Examine the truth in the fear.

…

2. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

…

3. Develop a strong safety net.

If I had to pick one to focus and work on, I’d have to pick #2. Click through for some excellent analysis.

And over at Small Biz Survival, we get a list anyone can use - how to delegate without hiring anyone. Online service providers and interns are where I concentrate in my practice. Each model is different, though - the list is worth a look.

From Canada (the Carnival is truly international), Centrerion offers some handy tips to keep tax preparation as un-obtrusive as possible, which is particularly important in Canada. Oh, and in California…

Professor Bainbridge notes the best and worst state tax regimes for business expansion. California has improved since last year, but still falls into the lowest quintile. Plus, Meathead gets a dose.

That’s the carnival for this week! Be sure to check out About’s page on Entrepreneurs for next week’s location, and some good info during the week.

I’ve seen several articles and TV news stories recently about the banning of tag on school playgrounds. Apparently, the game is dangerous to kids’ self-esteem because not everyone gets to be “it” and others are emotionally hurt if they are always caught and declared “it”. This is simply a no-win situation! I can more understand the banning of dodgeball, since kids really hurl those red balls at each other and schools can be held liable for some serious injuries, but tag? This game is an essential childhood ritual. Why don’t you go ahead and ban Mad Libs so kids with poor vocabulary and grammar skills aren’t hurt and swing sets to avoid the inevitable inferiority complexes that would develop in short-legged children?

Where I taught high school in Maryland, gym teachers were not allowed to play any games that required a goalie. There is just too much pressure put on the student selected as goalie and we shouldn’t allow such stress on his fragile young ego. One creative teacher found a way around this problem. Instead of a “goalie”, the student was called “the last defender”. Brilliant!

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Nathan and I both took a word test to determine how “Southern” our speech is. The test is called Are You a Yankee or a Rebel?

I scored “53% Dixie — just barely Dixie”. Guess that is what comes from growing up in a border state.

Nathan scored “83% Dixie — are you still using Confederate money?” There’s some Tennessee and Georgia breeding for you!

If I just start saying “Coke” instead of “soda” and “crawdad” instead of “crawfish”, I’ll be on my way to more legitimate Rebel Talk!

Metro schools supposedly don’t have enough money, and school board members lament the decision of the voters to reject a sales tax increase “for the children”. However, these elected advocates for our children seem to be unaware of federal money that is going unused by Metro schools.

As stated by a director of one of the tutoring companies available with the federal funding:

“I honestly think [MNPS] are micro-managing which providers parents get to choose,” he said. “They don’t have a clue. Many [MNPS officials don’t] even know that children in failing schools had an option to transfer to another school or avail free after-school tutorial services.”

MNPS officials could not be reached for comment.

Another reason to be pleased with my vote against the sales tax increase.

I have found a book that definitely will not become a part of the library in our nursery (for a baby that can come at any time, according to my doctor!). Some guy has written a book entitled “Why Mommy is a Democrat” (I can’t find the author’s name anywhere on the site, although you can see his photograph and read his first-person biography). Sample pages include statements like “Democrats make sure we all share our toys, just like Mommy does” and “Democrats make sure that children can go to school, just like Mommy does”.

With warm testimonials from Thom Hartmann of Air America Radio and Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus, OH (you remember … the man who refused to punish teachers who didn’t stop the gang rape of a disabled student in a school gym), I am sold on this book!

I have a few additional pages to suggest for the second edition (which I’m sure is inevitable!):

“Democrats send children to failing public schools on flawed principle, just like Mommy does”

“Democrats exhibit hypocrisy in their environmental positions, just like Mommy does when she drives me to school in her SUV”

“Democrats believe that minorities are not as smart or sophisticated as white people and therefore can be manipulated for political gain without any real concern for their betterment, just like Mommy when she tells me to pity the black boy in my class but never to play at his house!” (This last one might require a smaller font to fit on one page … especially if you want to leave room for a painting of Robert Byrd smiling and waving while wearing his KKK uniform or Hillary Clinton riding a horse around the plantation.)

Though Ayn Rand wouldn’t agree, John Hawkins makes a good case as to why the life lessons of Christianity can mesh with the tenets of Objectivism.

I tend to agree, and am intent, at some point in the future to write in more detail on the topic. This will irritate many humanistic objectivists to no end, and perhaps perturb some Coercive Christians (otherwise known as progressive). I don’t think many conservative Christians would have a problem with the foci of objectivism, though they certainly, as I do, would disagree with Rand’s ultimate conclusion.

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I am proud to be a Republican. At least, I am proud to be a Republican when it comes to what I believe captures the true philosophy of the Party. I want limited government, strong national defense, individual freedom and individual accountability. That’s it! To me, embracing these priorities is what makes me a Republican. But, I’ve been suffering from a small identity crisis because I cannot relate to some of the people who supposedly speak for Republicans and the issues they find most important. Here are a few examples:

1. I don’t like Hannity or O’Reilly. They do not offer any constructive thought to our political dialogue. When they get into their talking head matches with their silly soundbites, I think, “It’s so frustrating that people who aren’t Republicans automatically assume this is what a Republican must be like.” And, Democrats, I know you have equivalent characters on your side. I wouldn’t want the crowd at Air America or even Howard Dean to epitomize what I believe as a Democrat (hypothetically speaking, since I’m not) because I know the spectrum of Democrats is much broader than that.

2. Civil unions/gay marriage — when did this become so important? We’re fighting global terrorism and soon will be dealing with a baby boomer population that requires a significant part of our national budget for social security and Medicare and you’re concerned with two guys who love each other? Here’s where I find that individual freedom piece goes missing. I don’t like that this issue is a rallying cry for a segment of my Party. But, I hope that this too shall pass.

3. I don’t like the xenophobia that is increasing creeping into our Party (as frequent commenter Sean mentioned, this unfortunately is happening in both parties). If our Party is so patriotic, why do we begrudge people for wanting to get into this country by any means possible? Make the borders tighter and enforce the laws. Fine — I’m all for that. We should know who is entering the country. But, don’t call Phil Valentine and talk with venom in your voice about the Mexicans who are working at McDonalds. They are fellow human beings trying to have a better life. Are my fries greasy and salty? If yes, then I’m happy.

4. I am a Christian. Actually, I just became a Christian a little over a year ago and my faith is very important to me. I cried tears of joy and peace the day that I accepted Christ and again a few months later when I was baptized. But, I don’t think that being a Christian is a prerequisite to being a Republican and vice-versa.

I am a Republican. I like tax cuts, military spending, strong limits on welfare progams, school choice, laws against abortion, hiring and school admissions based on talent and not race or gender, the acceptance of God in the public square, a strong hand in foreign affairs and the dissolution of outdated unions (amongst many other Republican agenda items). I know that you can never agree with your Party all of the time (unless you are one of those Kool-Aid drinkers who exist on both sides of the aisle) and I’m certainly much more aligned with the Republicans than the Democrats (the idea of President Kerry still makes me shudder). But, certain issues have been irritaing me recently and I then realized … hey, I have a blog. Vent through the written word! And, so, I have done just that. I feel a little better now.

An explosion at Chinese chemical plant has released a significant amount benzene, which is heading into eastern Russia.

Cities in Russia’s Far East may have days to wait for benzene loosed by an explosion in a Chinese chemical plant to reach them.

Authorities plan to close kindergartens and schools in the area once the benzene reaches the Amur River, Novosti news agency reports. Hospitals in Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Amursk will be open only for emergencies.

The spill in China’s Songhua River shut off water supplies to the city of Harbin for four days.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry expects the benzene to reach Komsomolsk in mid-December and to remain in the Amur for about two weeks.

Benzene is both flammable and a carcinogen. Not good.

Link found via MooreHeadlines.

Michelle Malkin has a great article today on the amusing accusations by the left that conservatives are angry. Janeane Garafalo believes that right-wingers “are always on the verge of punching somebody” and Bill Maher stated that “Republicans need anger management.” Where are these supposedly angry Republicans? And, why would we have any good reason to be angry? We pretty much have the federal government at our disposal (not that our leaders are doing anything productive with this opportunity).

Instead, Malkin accurately points out that the far left is really the angry bunch. She writes,

It wasn’t rabid conservatives who gloated over Ronald Reagan’s death or John Ashcroft’s pancreatitis.

It isn’t fanatical conservatives joking about the assassination of President Bush and the execution of his Republican aides. (That, Ms. Garofalo, would include your Air America colleagues. But I’ll forgive you if you weren’t tuned in to them. Few are.)

These examples, I believe, are not representative of the mainstream Democrats (who seem to comprise a shrinking number within the Party). Rational Democrats want to work with the President and other Republicans and simply have a different perspective on policy and priorities from their conservative counterparts. But, the fringe extremists who so often get the publicity are certainly giving an unpleasant and angry face to the Democratic Party.

I have taken the time to aggregate a significant number of liberal blogs on my aggregator. I will now slice through the most worthy and objectionable posts on the Miers nomination.

I suppose I could link to any number of stories. But really, why? It is not like you have not already come across the story in another blog, or received an email from CNN, MSNBC, or Fox. Well, ok. Maybe I am pushing it with the Fox reference.

Besides, if you did not see this coming you need to get yourself to the eye doctor for an exam. Ah, that is, if you have medical benefits.

So, anyway. Acme, Inc. has attempted to distract away from the impending indictments. And no, I will not use any type of holiday reference. Quite frankly, this whole sorid affair is more then a stain on a blue dress, it is a moral embarressment of biblical proportions.

The Plame affair is part of a bigger atrocity, the killing of tens of thousands of people, over 2000 of them American service men. All becaFrom an individual named Guy Andrew Hall. Not so impressive.use of a lie.

I can find no humor in an administration as incompetent as Acme, Inc. Our country has been shamed in front of the whole world. Biblical proportions? 2,000 dead because of the Plame non-scandal? Please - typically typical.

“The GOP just lost all of their Supreme Court talking points. Who in the GOP is going to be able to stand up with a straight face and say ‘every nominee deserves an up or down vote’? Kiss that talking point good bye.

“And who is going to be able to argue that there should be no ‘litmus test’ on abortion and other issues?”

Uhh…the nominee herself resigned. Perception of reality ought to be a prerequisite to establishing a blogospheric presence. Or not - I like noting absurdity. This comes from the brilliant Maru, who likes to say FUBAR a lot.

But here’s one who gets it

I hope Shrub’s next nominee for the SCOTUS won’t be even worse — but I expect he or she will be. Prepare to see one of the usual right-wing judicial suspects named: Alberto Gonzales; Janice Rogers Brown; the Ediths, Clement and Jones; J. Michael Luttig; or J. Harvie Wilkinson III. Good lord, might we even see the notorious Robert Bork again?

Be very afraid, yes, but be ready to fight. I almost expect to see blood on the Senate chamber floor.

Absolutely - lots of blood. If you had any idea how happy the Miers withdrawal makes us conservatives, you’d have a coniption fit. Let us have a hard right strict constructionist - we will rule you. This moment of truth from Natalie Davis.

Surprise, surprise, surprise. If she really withdrew her own name, then she must have known she couldn’t pass muster. If others railroaded her into withdrawing, they are seeking a scarier nominee like Janice Rogers Brown or Priscilla Owen. It was almost certainly not George W. Bush who asked her to withdraw. He thinks too highly of her and her qualifications, right?

No matter. The fight to retain a moderate seat on the court continues. Gird your loins, Hooligans, it’s going to be a battle royale.

So long Harriet, we hardly knew ye.

The scarier the better. This one from Scrutiny Hooligans.

Yes - we shall win, and win big.

Just released (Drudge doesn’t even have it up yet) - Harriet Miers withdraws herself from the SCOTUS nomination.

Okay, Mr. President - there’s your mulligan. Now let’s get someone Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will not like.

The “Harriet Miers Nomination” category on MooreThoughts will, without regret, be closed.

Oh wait, it doesn’t! Handguns are banned in Washington, DC - yet rappers are still getting capped.

Perhaps outlawing criminals would work…oh wait, we already do that, too. State of nature, anyone?

George Will writes a fantastically critical article on Harriet Miers’ supporters

In their unseemly eagerness to assure Miers’s conservative detractors that she will reach the “right” results, her advocates betray complete incomprehension of this: Thoughtful conservatives’ highest aim is not to achieve this or that particular outcome concerning this or that controversy. Rather, their aim for the Supreme Court is to replace semi-legislative reasoning with genuine constitutional reasoning about the Constitution’s meaning as derived from close consideration of its text and structure. Such conservatives understand that how you get to a result is as important as the result. Indeed, in an important sense, the path that the Supreme Court takes to the result often is the result.

I do wish she would help the conservative cause by withdrawing from consideration now.

UPDATE Rob Huddleston has some other roundups on the nomination.

We’re as close to the Capitalist Peace as we’ve ever been, and there’s still a long way to go. From a Cato Institute’s daily commentary by Professor Erik Gartzke two days ago

Yet, the same studies show that democratic nations go to war about as much as other nations overall. And more recent research makes clear that only the affluent democracies are less likely to fight each other. Poor democracies behave much like non-democracies when it comes to war and lesser forms of conflict.

A more powerful explanation is emerging from newer, and older, empirical research - the “capitalist peace.” As predicted by Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Norman Angell and others, nations with high levels of economic freedom not only fight each other less, they go to war less often, period. Economic freedom is a measure of the depth of free market institutions or, put another way, of capitalism.

The “democratic peace” is a mirage created by the overlap between economic and political freedom. Democracy and economic freedom typically co-exist. Thus, if economic freedom causes peace, then statistically democracy will also appear to cause peace.

Economic freedom is the effectuation and rooting of democracy. The article goes on to make some more interesting points. Wars of conquest used to be an operable extension of the mercantile system, where assets were believed to be fixed, and the implicit economic and at times war motivating goal was to obtain all available hard currency for one’s nation. Current capitalist systems do not lend themselves to a mercantilistic war. Comparative advantage is difficult to conquest - the wealth destruction brought on by war is now a two-way street. The article goes a little further, and I am forced to disagree

Yet, the United States and other western nations are putting immense resources into democratization even in nations that lack functioning free markets. This is in part based on the faulty premise of a “democratic peace.” It may also in part be due to public perception.

Everyone approves of democracy, but “capitalism” is often a dirty word. However, in recent decades, an increasing number of people have rediscovered the economic virtues of the “invisible hand” of free markets. We now have an additional benefit of economic freedom - international peace.

In the first paragraph, Gartzke criticizes Western attempts at foreign democratization without distinguishing the cart from the horse. Formerly unfree societies that do not have free markets do not ergo make free markets in those newly freed societies impossible. Some dictatorships allow free markets, but most do not (nationalization and lacking rule of law vis a vis economic activity can frustrate the formation of free markets in dictatorships). The freedom to act according to one’s own will and desires as long as those actions do not infringe upon other is the cornerstone of both political and economic freedom. One certainly fosters the other.

It’s an article worth reading. Check out the rest for yourself.

John Stossel writes well on the well-meaning intent but ill-effect results of gun control legislation. He cuts to the chase, and blogs about criminals (you know, those who actually use guns to hurt people)

Talking to prisoners about guns emphasizes a few key lessons. First, criminals don’t obey the law. (That’s why we call them “criminals.”) Second, no law can repeal the law of supply and demand. If there’s money to be made selling something, someone will sell it.

A study funded by the Department of Justice confirmed what the prisoners said. Criminals buy their guns illegally and easily. The study found that what felons fear most is not the police or the prison system, but their fellow citizens, who might be armed. One inmate told me, “When you gonna rob somebody you don’t know, it makes it harder because you don’t know what to expect out of them.”

True. And something to consider when supporting gun control legislation under some fairytale pretense that legislation can create reality.