Reason Morning Links: Is It Still News When the Government Takes Over a Car Company?

- GM files for bankruptcy. Washington will give the company an additional $30 billion to play with, and will take a 60 percent stake in return. The U.S. isn't the only government taking ownership: Another 12 percent goes to Canada.

- The Nevada legislature overrides a veto and legalizes domestic partnerships.

- Someone who hasn't parsed the phrase "pro-life" very carefully has killed an abortionist.

- The emergency powers behind the Fed's Wall Street bailouts.

- Irony alert: A report making the case for stronger intellectual property rights was partly plagiarized.

Comments

[Atanarjuat]

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said that the actions taken by the Fed have been necessary and important but that those actions should have been taken by an agency accountable to voters. He said he was not aware of the Fed's emergency power until September, and he favored removing much of that authority from the Fed once the crisis has passed.

Either you think they should have the powers or you don't. Who's to say there will never be another crisis?

[Mike in PA]

1984 - there's always a crisis.

[hmm]

Never waste a good crisis.

I guess I can watch my Ford stock duel with my GM stock. Of course, the later is something I really didn't want.

Can we fire Congress and hire the Nevada legislature?

Pro-Life I care about unless I don't like you then I am Pro-Kill. Personally I'm Pro-Kill. We have far too many stupid people running around as is and if the morons start killing each other we can lock up the killers. It's a win win situation.

This country, hell the world needs more "one man wrecking balls" like Geist.

[Warty]

I'm anti-life, personally.

[R C Dean]

Of course, the lat[t]er is something I really didn't want.

And which you don't have, unless it you bought it personally.

Any reason why the government doesn't just send each taxpayer their pro rata share of GM?

[SugarFree]

Warty,

Do you have The Equation?

[P Brooks]

Raise your hand if you think fifty billion dollars is going to be the total cost of keeping GM above water.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm Mo-Life.

[Warty]

Do you have The Equation?

Yes. P=NP.

[Billy]

Dr. Tiller, the baby killer was gunned down in his church. I have to admit, I feel pretty good about it.

[Darkseid]

No, mortal. The Anti-Life Equation. I will have it even if I must wrench it from your puny mind.

OMEGA BEAM!

[FrBunny]

Someone who hasn't parsed the phrase "pro-life" very carefully has killed an abortionist

There is zero evidence so far that the killer was a "pro-life" crusader. Maybe (ok, probably) it will turn out he was. In the meantime, your confirmation bias is showing.

[Billy]

"your confirmation bias is showing."

No. Crushing a 30-week-old fetus is good.

Making a guy sit naked in a cold Gitmo cell is evil.

Get with the program.

[Citizen Nothing]

RC,
I hate reading that GM will be "taxpayer owned." If I can't sell it, I don't own it.

[FrBunny]

FrBunny = Not on Billy's team. Ever. Print subscriber, I heart Reason, etc., etc.

[SugarFree]

HoneyBunny, I don't imagine anyone would mistake you for that moral midget.

[Warty]

loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ? mockery ? condemnation ? misunderstanding x guilt x shame x failure x judgment where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side

That could use some parentheses. Is it ((((loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth) ? mockery) ? condemnation) ? misunderstanding) x guilt x shame x failure x judgment
n=y? Furthermore, what is n doing there? Is there a misplaced operator? Also, what's the point of using the symbol y to represent hope and n to represent folly, when no similar substitutions are made in the rest of the equation, even though they would improve its readability a great deal? I also am highly skeptical that no physical constants are necessary in this equation.

Overall, this is one of the least-scary equations I've read all day. Way less so than P=NP.

Also, It reminded me of this.

[Citizen Nothing]

Yo, fuck Billy.

[Xeones]

Yo, fuck owning that shitty-ass car company.

Personally, i'm pro-life, except for Warty.

[Jesse Walker]

In the meantime, your confirmation bias is showing.

They've arrested a suspect, Bunny, and he's being described as anti-abortion. Many claims we'll see about him in the media over the next few days may turn out to be false; this happens frequently after a high-profile crime. And for all we know Roeder will turn out to be innocent. But come on: I really doubt Tiller was killed by a jealous husband.

If you want to go searching for confirmation bias, you'd be better off looking at the people who are trying to blame the pro-life movement as a whole for the murder.

[Adam]

I think you're confusing "pro-life" with "pacifist." Its perfectly logical for a utilitarian pro-lifer to commit murder in certain situations.

[Seamus]

Never waste a good crisis.

Over at Daily Kos, they're talking about how they hope the Tiller killing will inspire the administration to go all Reichstag fire on the pro-lifers.

[FrBunny]

SF,

I'm so out of the loop lately I can't take anything for granted. I'm assuming he's our latest performance artist? If so, half-point deduction for over-reaching.

[FrBunny]

They've arrested a suspect, Bunny, and he's being described as anti-abortion.

Gitmo is full of suspects. Look, there's a 99% chance the guy came straight from a baptismal pond with God's hammer in his hand, but you've been a champion against these types of assumptions in the past.

[Billy]

"I think you're confusing "pro-life" with "pacifist." Its perfectly logical for a utilitarian pro-lifer to commit murder in certain situations."

Yes.

[Fascitis Necrotizante]

Yo, fuck emo mathematics.

[Billy]

Tiller = Doctor Moreau

[Fascitis Necrotizante]

Wait so was he aborting fetuses or just engineering them to grow four asses?

[Billy]

FC

I'm saying that anyone who makes their living sucking out the brains of viable human beings for cash is a sick, sick bastard.

[Jesse Walker]

Gitmo is full of suspects.

As I said, he may turn out to be innocent. But I would put the chances of the killer not being motivated by Tiller's profession at infinitesimal. And I say that as someone who objects strongly to a lot of the chatter we're now hearing about pro-lifers, right-wing media, "extreme rhetoric," etc.

[Billy]

For the record, I'm pro-choice, but at some point there should a time's up, you waited too long to decide rule (unless the life of the mother is at risk).

I have a friend that performs abortions. She's been entertained in my home, but she only aborts first-term pregnancies. I think that's because unlike Tiller, she's not a sick, sick bastard.

[Tulpa]

I think you're confusing "pro-life" with "pacifist." Its perfectly logical for a utilitarian pro-lifer to commit murder in certain situations.

Quite the opposite, actually. Those who commit abortions, and plan to continue doing so in the future, have already forfeited their right to life. The fact that pro-lifers take no violent action against them is due to the utilitarian calculation that doing so will not save any unborns, but will harm the pro-life movement and result in more unborn deaths.

Note that the media is already spinning this as "the latest in a string of pro-life murders spanning two decades". That "string" happens to contain only four or five murders over 20 years, far fewer than can be pinned on most political movements' adherents.

[Zeb]

Meh. If you are really so pro-life you should be protesting hospitals and old folks homes. That's where the real death is happening.

[Naga Sadow]

I wish Tulpa had been aborted . . .

[Billy]

"I wish Tulpa had been aborted . . ."

So you find Tulpa inconvenient?

[P Brooks]

This thread is quite an abortion.

[SugarFree]

Well, PB... maybe the blog should have used protection.

[kwais]

I wish GM could be aborted

[R C Dean]

kwais, at this point is more like unplugging the life support.

"GM's had a long, full life. It wouldn't want to be kept this way, a burden on the children. . . ."

Except, of course, the medical power of attorney is held by the UAW, a cousin who is beneficiary of a trust that will be dissolved upon the death of the patient.

[Xeones]

Yo, fuck this thread.

[kwais]

Xeones, maybe this thread can be aborted?

[Brandybuck]

GM files for bankruptcy. Washington will give the company an additional $30 billion to play with

What part of "bankruptcy" does the government not understand?

[johnl]

FrBunny I don't understand why you say 0 evidence. From the article:
"""
A posting from May 2007 on Operation Rescue's Web site, from a person identifying himself as "Scott Roeder," sought volunteers to "attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside)" to "ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members. ... Doesn't seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller."
"""

[FrBunny]

Yes, I RTFA, thanks. That snippet is still zero evidence "that the killer was a 'pro-life' crusader". Just as no neutral posting here is evidence of a murderous free-market streak in the poster.

Still, Walker's points are well-taken.

[Tulpa]

I wish Tulpa had been aborted . . .

That couldn't have happened. I did not come from a mother, but emerged fully-formed from a primordial broccoli-cheddar soup.

[Custom Nike Dunk]

thanks