Reason Morning Links: New Regulations, New ID Cards, a New Mission for Blackwater

Fuck yeah, wage ceilings. We need to make sure those investment bankers are working selflessly for the public good. They may not like it at first because they are used to self centered capitalism, but once they get used to it, they will feel like their career is much more rewarding than when they were chasing the evil dollar.

Atlas|9.18.09 @ 8:53AM|#

Still, she shrugged when asked if her view of a public option ...

Hey!!

|9.18.09 @ 8:56AM|#

The public option shows some signs of life.

That's why you should use fire.

Joe M|9.18.09 @ 8:59AM|#

I don't understand how Pelosi demanding the public option, AGAIN, equates to it showing signs of life. If anything, insisting on it will turn off more congressblobs than it will excite.

Attorney|9.18.09 @ 9:03AM|#

If anything, insisting on it will turn off more congressblobs than it will excite.

Sure hope so.

|9.18.09 @ 9:04AM|#

I wouldn't call it a complete collapse. Gillibrand and 6 others were willing to vote in ACORN's favor. When I e-mailed her and told her to show some guts and vote opposite of Schumer for a change, this isn't what I had in mind.

Economic illiterate|9.18.09 @ 9:05AM|#

Hurry and get a wooden stake.

Unintended Consequences Dept.|9.18.09 @ 9:06AM|#

The Fed mulls new controls on banks' pay policies.

And so banks' compliance costs will increase, and even more depositors will flee banks for less-regulated mutual-fund providers.

Joe M|9.18.09 @ 9:07AM|#

Don't worry, we'll regulate them later.

Rich|9.18.09 @ 9:11AM|#

"Teaches rules of the road and includes specific driving techniques for a specific ~~region~~ religion."

John Tagliaferro|9.18.09 @ 9:15AM|#

Blackwater offers its services to faith-based organizations.

It's about time they diversified.

Joe M|9.18.09 @ 9:16AM|#

The saddest part about the India story is that the entire scheme revolves around government programs, not anythign vaugely related to, oh, I dunno, prosperity or liberty.

|9.18.09 @ 9:20AM|#

The flash-order banning is a good first step to weeding out corruption/promoting transparency.

Any libertarians against this on principal?

Kevin|9.18.09 @ 9:22AM|#

Washington witnesses "the complete collapse of Democratic support for ACORN."

God bless that faux pimp and hooker. Right now Michael Moore is asking how the hell their movies actually affected something.

Bill and Karolyn Slowsky|9.18.09 @ 9:24AM|#

The flash-order banning is a good first step

We like it.

John Tagliaferro|9.18.09 @ 9:24AM|#

The saddest part about the India story is that the entire scheme revolves around government programs, not anythign vaugely related to, oh, I dunno, prosperity or liberty.

That's the way I envisioned it happening here, pretty soon.

John Tagliaferro|9.18.09 @ 9:26AM|#

Any libertarians against this on principal?

Is this rhetorical Friday or something?

Wicks Cherrycoke|9.18.09 @ 9:31AM|#

"The flash-order banning is a good first step to weeding out corruption/promoting transparency.

Any libertarians against this on principal?"

I am skeptical of any regulation unless all its consequences are fully considered, including but not limited to whether it is disguised retraint on trade and competition. I am not saying that such is the case here. I am just reserving the right to express skepticism.

|9.18.09 @ 9:33AM|#

Whither the zombie health care plan,
Creeping, crawling, shambling, sliding
And forcing our retreat into hiding?
Let us make war while we can.
So much change in such a short time span.
Why must we be racing,
To the disaster we are facing?
No one hears the voice of one man.
There are the grasping dead,
Reaching for our wallets
And braying for our compassion.
Do not be mastered by your dread
And be careful of your bullets...
For theft will always be in fashion.

Friday Punster|9.18.09 @ 9:35AM|#

Any libertarians against this on principal?

I'm not against it on PRINCIPAL, but it doesn't hold much INTEREST for me.

(Get it?)

T|9.18.09 @ 9:36AM|#

That's why you should use fire.

Screw that. Take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Meta4|9.18.09 @ 9:39AM|#

Obama: Legalize illegals to get them health care:

President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.

He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants.

"Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. "That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else.

Mr. Obama added, "If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all."

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/18/obama-ties-immigration-to-health-care-battle/?feat=home_cube_position1

|9.18.09 @ 9:40AM|#

Blackwater offers its services to faith-based organizations.

Awesome. The Fellowship of the Sun can't be far behind.

John Tagliaferro|9.18.09 @ 9:40AM|#

Screw that. Take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Let's wait until Obama dismantles the rest of MDA, so nobody accidentally shoots down the missile.

|9.18.09 @ 9:42AM|#

President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.

Take that, Joe Wilson. Booyah! Whose the liar now, punk?

|9.18.09 @ 9:44AM|#

Washington witnesses "the complete collapse of Democratic support for ACORN."

A Glenn Reynolds reader pointed out that the House and Senate provisions defunding ACORN are in different bills. The only reason to put them is separate bills is so they can be stripped out in conference committee.

My 60/40 prediction is that ACORN won't lose its federal funding. Even though there are now five (5) videotapes showing ACORN employees giving advice on how to defraud various and sundry to set up a child prostitution brothel.

|9.18.09 @ 9:47AM|#

Take that, Joe Wilson.

That reminds me: SNL Weekend Update Thursday premiered last night. Evidently no currently-employed liberal has done anything worth ridiculing since last fall. Those protesters sure are racist though!

Shocked face :|

|9.18.09 @ 9:50AM|#

FrBunny,

Also, terrible McConnell impression. Everyone knows he doesn't move his face when he speaks.

|9.18.09 @ 9:50AM|#

A Glenn Reynolds reader pointed out that the House and Senate provisions defunding ACORN are in different bills. The only reason to put them is separate bills is so they can be stripped out in conference committee.

I had a similar thought. There's no way the Dems would kill this vote getting golden goose. It's like all the talk from Pelosi about how there would be "no more earmarks," when all they were doing is redefining what an earmark was.

Same shit, different day.

ed|9.18.09 @ 9:51AM|#

"The BigGovernment videos mark an important moment
in the development of alternative media sources"

Indeed, those vids--and the proliferation of YouTube worldwide as a source of almost instantaneous embarrassment to crooks and other politicians--should serve as another wakeup call to traditional journalism. They've been derelict in duty as fellow-travelers ACORN have openly operated a legally organized crime syndicate. The power of the lefty press to run interference--and provide cover--for shakedown artists like ACORN might finally be on the wane.

Rich|9.18.09 @ 9:52AM|#

"I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else."

Will "folks who are here legally" therefore be *required* to have US insurance? I haven't yet RTFB, but smell unintended consequences.

Meta4|9.18.09 @ 9:53AM|#

"Right now Michael Moore is asking how the hell their movies actually affected something."

In order to affect change, it helps to be truthful about the subject.

|9.18.09 @ 9:53AM|#

"My 60/40 prediction is that ACORN won't lose its federal funding. Even though there are now five (5) videotapes showing ACORN employees giving advice on how to defraud various and sundry to set up a child prostitution brothel."

That is a pretty good prediction. And they will be abetted by the MSM dropping the story as quickly as it started. And they will all run home and say "I voted to defund ACORN I don't know how it is still getting funding". Pathetic.

Mike Laursen|9.18.09 @ 9:57AM|#

Blackwater offers its services to faith-based organizations.

I'm no fan of Blackwater, but just going by their press release description of their new line of business it sounds like a legitimate, benign educational venture. Scahill's going on pure vapors of insinuation, which is kinda getting into LoneWacko territory.

|9.18.09 @ 9:58AM|#

My 60/40 prediction is that ACORN won't lose its federal funding. Even though there are now five (5) videotapes showing ACORN employees giving advice on how to defraud various and sundry to set up a child prostitution brothel.

I can see those clips getting spliced together all fancy like, then cutting to the scumbag that's running for reelection and voted for ACORN to keep their funding. Think it would work?

db|9.18.09 @ 9:59AM|#

Blackwater offers its services to faith-based organizations.

It's about time that community organizers got their own personal armies. Finally they'll have what they need to extract resources from those intransigents who don't donate to their causes.

|9.18.09 @ 10:01AM|#

"I can see those clips getting spliced together all fancy like, then cutting to the scumbag that's running for reelection and voted for ACORN to keep their funding. Think it would work?"

It should. But the problem is that the scumbags who voted for it come from districts where the voters get their news from the NYT and douschbags like Glenn Greenwald. And they thus think that defunding ACORN is just a Fox News smear aimed at making war on the poor. Sometimes people really do get the government they deserve.

|9.18.09 @ 10:02AM|#

Also, terrible McConnell impression.

Yeah, Jason Sudeikis's McConnell is the same as his Mark McGuire.

|9.18.09 @ 10:04AM|#

Sometimes people really do get the government they deserve.

I'd be fine with that as long as I didn't have to pay for it.

|9.18.09 @ 10:07AM|#

"I'd be fine with that as long as I didn't have to pay for it."

So would I. If this country broke up, the Northeast, upper mid-west and California would be third world cleptocracies within a decade.

Abdul|9.18.09 @ 10:22AM|#

Speaking of Lonewacko, does Obama realize that pairing universal healthcare with immigration reform will guarantee the failure of both?

For better or worse, a large number of Americans can't stand the fact that people who come to the country illegally derive any benefit from the government. The sentiment crosses traditional partisan boundaries, which is why Bush's bi-partisan immigration propoposals failed so miserably.

Obama's legislative program is strictly amateur hour.

John Tagliaferro|9.18.09 @ 10:22AM|#

I'd be fine with that as long as I didn't have to pay for it.

I like that th way it is. Please don't make a sonet out of it?

Xeones|9.18.09 @ 10:24AM|#

I'd be fine with that as long as I didn't have to pay for it.

...or live under it.

Art-P.O.G.|9.18.09 @ 10:26AM|#

Good point, Abdul.

|9.18.09 @ 10:28AM|#

Blackwater offers its services to faith-based organizations.

I wonder if they're flyering at mosques.

|9.18.09 @ 10:30AM|#

I'd be fine with that as long as I didn't have to pay for it.

...or live under it.

Or hear about it....

|9.18.09 @ 10:31AM|#

@ John... I wish... man how I wish

|9.18.09 @ 10:36AM|#

Very good point Abdul. As Friedman once said, you can have open borders or you can have the welfare state but you can't have both.

Also, if you enacted the Bacus plan, young healthy citizens and LPRs would face stiff fines for not buying health insurance. Meanwhile, illegals, because they are illegal, would be able to opt out of the system and get treatment anyway. Think about it. If you are a 20 year old American male starting out in life, you are stuck paying for health insurance to subsidize the old. If you are illegal, you will be able to opt out of the system and still treatment (and ultimately insurance if we have a rolling amnisty program) if you ever get sick. Yeah, that will be popular.

T|9.18.09 @ 10:38AM|#

Scahill's going on pure vapors of insinuation, which is kinda getting into LoneWacko territory.

Scahill has a real grudge against Blackwater and Erik Prince. I've got his book, and it's a little tedious because he's so freaking tendentious. I tend to take his stuff with a salt shaker because of that. I'm not saying his facts are wrong, because I don't know, but his presentation makes it clear he has no objectivity on the subject.

nobody special|9.18.09 @ 10:41AM|#

Washington witnesses "the complete collapse of Democratic support for ACORN."

An excellent example of something thought of as entrenched being completely ephemeral politically.

|9.18.09 @ 10:44AM|#

"If that (the O'Keefe Giles videos) isn't enough to persuade 75 Democrats to stop supporting Acorn with taxpayer money, one can only conclude that the only way they'd defund the outfit is if it endorsed the war in Iraq or Afghanistan."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574419240752097448.html

That is funny

|9.18.09 @ 10:47AM|#

I live in Upstate NY, so unless we lopped off NYC and LI like we should have decades ago, I'm outta here. Question is, where should I go? Montana? New Hampshire? Alaska? It's hard to do a pros and cons assessment when you don't really know what those places will become?

|9.18.09 @ 11:00AM|#

Its a scam, the Dems will "lose" the two amendments in conference committtees. Note the last paragraph of this article: "Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday, Ms. Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Acorn's actions were inexcusable and said any group receiving federal funds should "have tough scrutiny applied to it." She declined to say whether she supported blocking further government grants." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125323372671921657.html I think the last line is the important one.

Meta4|9.18.09 @ 11:10AM|#

"Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday, Ms. Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Acorn's actions were inexcusable and said any group receiving federal funds should "have tough scrutiny applied to it." She declined to say whether she supported blocking further government grants."

Keep fucking that chicken, Nancy!

|9.18.09 @ 11:10AM|#

any group receiving federal funds should "have tough scrutiny applied to it."

Does this include Fannie Mae?

T|9.18.09 @ 11:24AM|#

Does this include Fannie Mae?

Apparently not.

ACORN = Enron|9.18.09 @ 11:40AM|#

EOM

Tomcat1066|9.18.09 @ 11:40AM|#

"Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday, Ms. Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Acorn's actions were inexcusable and said any group receiving federal funds should "have tough scrutiny applied to it."

Yeah...like Congress!

|9.18.09 @ 11:56AM|#

I live in Upstate NY, so unless we lopped off NYC and LI like we should have decades ago, I'm outta here.

Funny - many of us in NYC have been joking about secession for years. Different reasons, but a result it seems many would be happy with. The discussions spiked in the years immediately following 9/11.

(A weaker version of the joke just involves stricter border control. Come in and sight see, work, whatever, but when you leave, you gotta take a bag of trash with you.)

|9.18.09 @ 11:59AM|#

"""My 60/40 prediction is that ACORN won't lose its federal funding."""

It will depend on public opinion. Otherwise, an organization that lies to aquire tax money isn't really going to punish an organization that lies to aquire tax money.

Ebeneezer Scrooge|9.18.09 @ 12:01PM|#

Mr. Obama added, "If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all."

This should make all you of the Open The Borders! faith quite happy. Once we've given the "All in free" call, there will be a perfect motive for the next 12 million to come over the border.

Why don't we just belly up to the f***ing bar right now and make covering all of Mexico part of Obama's health care "reform"? Because that's what's going to happen.

John,

As Friedman once said, you can have open borders or you can have the welfare state but you can't have both.

Friedman may have said it but I've yet to hear a similarly principled position come from Reason. Reason may give it occasional lip service, but by and large argues for wide open borders come hell or high water.

To anyone who is confused by this, like I was for a time, understand that the Open the Borders! faith gets so much easier to grok if you're an anarchist.

Ebeneezer Scrooge|9.18.09 @ 12:04PM|#

And btw, why isn't covering Mexico already part of the projected cost of social security and Medicare?

We really should be straight up about all this. Mexicans by and large will vote Democrat, which means Democrats are going to make very sure the Mexicans get all the free handouts.

Screw opening the borders, the whole problem is Mexico. Can't we just annex Mexico and be done with it?

ACORN = Enron|9.18.09 @ 12:22PM|#

If you click my name, you will see that what ACORN has done could fall under RICO.

Here's the Definitions link:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00001961----000-.html

"enterprise" includes any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity"

"pattern of racketeering activity" requires at least two acts of racketeering activity,"

"sections 1581-1592 (relating to peonage, slavery, and trafficking in persons)"

"section 1954 (relating to unlawful welfare fund payments)"

"sections 2251, 2251A, 2252, and 2260 (relating to sexual exploitation of children)"

ACORN = Enron|9.18.09 @ 12:24PM|#

"(F) any act which is indictable under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 274 (relating to bringing in and harboring certain aliens), section 277 (relating to aiding or assisting certain aliens to enter the United States), or section 278 (relating to importation of alien for immoral purpose) if the act indictable under such section of such Act was committed for the purpose of financial gain, or (G) any act that is indictable under any provision listed in section 2332b (g)(5)(B)"

|9.18.09 @ 2:28PM|#

an organization that lies to aquire tax money isn't really going to punish an organization that lies to aquire tax money.

Don't steal - the government hates competition.

|9.19.09 @ 12:27AM|#

ATTENTION!! Congress Has The Votes Needed To Pass A Public Option - TODAY http://bit.ly/TCq7O

Why A Strong Public Option Is Essential - By jacksmith - Working Class

Robert Reich explains the pubic option: http://bit.ly/dDYSJ http://robertreich.blogspot.com/

John Garamendi on the Public Option and the Grassroots: http://bit.ly/TJMty

It's not just because more than two thirds of the American people want a single payer health care system. And if they cant have a single payer system 77% of all Americans want a strong government-run public option on day one (86% of democrats, 75% of independents, and 72% republicans). Basically everyone.

It's not just because according to a new AARP POLL: 86 percent of seniors want universal healthcare security for All, including 93% of Democrats, 87% of Independents, and 78% of Republicans. With 79% of seniors supporting creating a new strong Government-run public option plan, available immediately. Including 89% of Democrats, 80% of Independents, and 61% of Republicans, STUNNING!!

It's not just because it will lower cost. Because a strong public option will dramatically lower cost for everyone. And dramatically improved the quality of care everyone receives in America and around the World. Rich, middle class, and poor a like.

It's not just because it will save trillions of dollars and prevent the needless deaths of millions more of YOU, caused by a rush to profit by the DISGRACEFUL, GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX!

It's not just because every expert in every field, including economist, and Nobel laureates all agree that free market based healthcare systems don't work. Never have and never will. The US has the only truly free market based healthcare system in the World. And as you all know now, IT IS A DISASTER!

It's not just because providing or denying medically necessary care for profit motivations is wrong. Because it is WRONG! It's professionally, ethically, and morally REPUGNANT!, Animalistic, VILE and EVIL.

THE REASON THE PUBLIC OPTION IS ESSENTIAL:

The public option is ESSENTIAL because over 200 million of you are trapped in the forest of the wolves. Which is the forest of the DISGRACEFUL, GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX! With no way out except through needless inhumane suffering, and DEATH. While the wolves tear at your flesh, and rip you limb from lib. Then feast on your lifeless bodies like a dead carcase for transplant parts.

At the most vulnerable times of your lives (when you were sick and hurting), millions of you have had to fight and loose cruel, but heroic battles. Fighting against the big guns of the DISGRACEFUL, GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX! in the forest of the wolves. All because you have no place else to go. You have no other CHOICE!

But the PUBLIC OPTION will give you someplace safe to go. And it will give us someplace safe to take you. The public option will be your refugium (your refuge). Where the wolves cannot get at you when your down, hurting, and vulnerable. Where everyone who needs it can find rest, security, comfort and the care they need. Protected by the BIG GUNS of We The People Of The United States. THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE AND COUNTRY ON EARTH.

This is why it is so critical that we do not lead another 50 million vulnerable, uninsured Americans into the forest of the wolves, without the protections of a Strong Government-run public option. We The People Of The United States MUST NOT LET THAT HAPPEN to any more of our fellow Americans. If healthcare reform does not contain a strong public option on day one. YOU MUST! KILL IT. Or you will do far more harm than good. And millions more will die needlessly. Rich, middle class, and poor a like.

To those who would continue to obstruct good and true healthcare reform for the American people, and who seek to trap millions more vulnerable Americans in the forest of the wolves. We will continue to fight you. We are prepared to wage all out war against you, and will eagerly DESTROY! you. Time...is...UP! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! No Co-op's! No Triggers! NO INDIVIDUAL MANDATES! without a Strong public option on day one.

Healthcare reform can be the GREATEST! Accomplishment of our time and century. A time when future generations may say of us, that we were all, AMERICAS GREATEST GENERATIONS.

BUT WE MUST ACT!

I therefore call on all my fellow Americans and the peoples of the World. To join us in this fight so that we may finish becoming the better America that we aspire to be for everyone.

SPREAD THE WORD!

I have been privileged to be witness as many of you fought, and struggled to take your first breath, and your last breath on this earth. Rich, middle class, and poor a like. Life is precious.

Whatever the cost. WE! MUST SUCCEED.

God Bless You My Fellow Human Beings

jacksmith - Working Class

Things You Can Do To Help NOW! http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/09/tired_of_watching_people_die_n.html

No Triggers! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-rosenbaum/a-trigger-for-the-public_b_277910.html

Triggers http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/weve-seen-these-triggers_b_283583.html

Krugman on heathcare (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/why-markets-cant-cure-healthcare/)

Senator Bernie Sanders on healthcare (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSM8t_cLZgk&feature=player_embedded)

Michael Ejercito|9.19.09 @ 11:54AM|#

This is why it is so critical that we do not lead another 50 million vulnerable, uninsured Americans into the forest of the wolves, without the protections of a Strong Government-run public option.

Many of those fifty million are not Americans.

db|9.20.09 @ 7:18PM|#

@jacksmith: I don't want you fucking "benefits." I don't want your "public option." Do you care? Do you care a whit that what you propose is to send armed goons to my door to steal my money, arrest and imprison me, or kill me if I resist, to give me something I DO NOT WANT?

No. You don't care. Because you don't really want to help me. You want to steal from me to give to other people, making them complicit in your theft. You want to take from the productive and redistribute to the unproductive.

Rather than do you best to persuade me to give the fruit of my mind and my labor to others of my own free will, you conspire with the powerful and the wealthy to force my compliance with an immoral redistribution. Well to hell with you.

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