Reason Morning Links: Wholesale Prices Drop, Massive Credit Card Theft, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em

- Large, unexpected drop in wholesale prices.

- Miami man indicted for stealing record 130 million credit card numbers.

- Senate Democrats vow allegiance to public option.

- ACLU records request reveals previously unaccounted-for deaths at immigration detention centers.

- Hammer to perform on "Dancing With the Stars." That is, Tom "The Hammer" DeLay.

Comments

[Kyle Jordan]

"Senate Democrats vow allegiance to public option."

Oh please do! I'm actually getting a bit excited for the elections next year! Not that the Republicans will be any better, I just hope to see these idiots lose and wonder why.

Then again, if voters remember what happens a week before the elections I'll be surprised. So most likely nothing's really going to change.

[Abdul]

Miami man indicted for stealing record 130 million credit card numbers.

The best part of this story is that the thief is a former law enforcement informant.

Confidential informants: the organized crime version of an anti-trust commission.

[Nick]

Kyle, I kind of agree with you. Watching them crash and burn is fun. I don't hold out a ton of hope people will stray from D vs R in the coming years, but everything moves faster now than it used to, so maybe the flip-flopping between majorities will occur in more rapid succession. Then they can just attack each other all the time and never get anything done which is good for us.

[!]

I just hope to see these idiots lose and wonder why.

Top reasons why Democrats lose, according to them:

1. Racism

2. Ballot rigging

3. Stupid hick voters

[Rich]

Pretty much anything that fragments the Dems is good.

Kyle, I think voters' memories are improving.

[Rich]

Would someone kindly explain to me why this sort of "Gee, reality (however that is measured) turns out to be different from what our learned economists had predicted" stuff is news? At least, spun as news about the economy rather than how, um, apparently clueless the "experts" are?

[Mike in PA]

Easy ad for 2010...

"Was this the change you wanted?!"

Seems like a whole lot more of the same.

Anonymous candidate wins.

[FrBunny]

Hammer to perform on "Dancing With the Stars."

I knew that had to be a trick. MC Hammer on DWtS would be like Uncle Jesse on Having Awesome Hair. Contest over.

[The Ghost of Nancy Reagan]

Ronny will be so happy!

Conservatives Now Outnumber Liberals in All 50 States, Says Gallup Poll

Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states of the union, according to the Gallup Poll.

At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year that they are conservative than have made that claim in any of the last four years.

In 2009, 40% percent of respondents in Gallup surveys that have interviewed more than 160,000 Americans have said that they are either "conservative" (31%) or "very conservative" (9%). That is the highest percentage in any year since 2004.

Only 21% have told Gallup they are liberal, including 16% who say they are "liberal" and 5% who say they are "very liberal."

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52602

[Art-P.O.G.]

Confidential informants: the organized crime version of an anti-trust commission.

Yup, but it's hard to think of other professions that reward dishonesty.

[John Thacker]

Watching them crash and burn is fun.

Yes, but don't forget that they have an enormous majority. Suppose that they enact the "public option" and lose terribly in the midterms as a result. Would that cause it, or anything else like the stimulus to be repealed?

Certainly not. Not only would they have the Presidency still, with 60 seats in the Senate there's a mathematical limitation on how few members they could have. So any Change would be impossible to repeal for at least 4, but more likely 6 years (due to the Senate) and in fact would never be able to repeal since the Democrats would never drop below 40 in the Senate and would filibuster any repeal. And in any case once it gets past 6 years it, like any government program, would be nearly impossible to cancel.

So yes, if the Democrats overreach, they'll crash and burn and lose elections. But what they overreached to pass will NEVER be repealed.

The Democrats have a large enough majority that even if all the Republican in Congress acted for the rest of this Congress as perfect libertarians, it wouldn't matter as far as these proposals are concerned.

[T]

Yup, but it's hard to think of other professions that reward dishonesty.

Politics?

[Meta4]

"Yup, but it's hard to think of other professions that reward dishonesty."

Gender Studies professor?

[SugarFree]

Gender Studies professor?

If you are utterly convinced of what you believe, you are not being dishonest about it.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

"the organized crime version of an anti-trust commission"

REDUNTANT!

[!]

"Yup, but it's hard to think of other professions that reward dishonesty."

Mainstream Media?

[Nick]

You're right, Thacker, but I don't buy for a second the Dems will do what they think is the "right thing" and sacrifice themselves to do it. There are plenty of them who might lose their jobs as it is, and those that are safe don't want to lose their majority leaderships. That's the only reason they're out there now trying to sell their proposal instead of just passing it the day Al Franken was sworn in.

[Meta4]

"If you are utterly convinced of what you believe, you are not being dishonest about it."

No professor could truly believe this crap, but it still manages to find its way into the Lesbian Body (the bibliography, not the Monique Wittig poetry):

http://www.researchpubs.com/books/angrprod.php

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

My oldest daughter is working on her Masters, and needed one more class this summer in order to get her student loan. She took a generic race/sexual orientation/gender studies (should be called identity politics or victimhood studies) class.

I had a lovely time all summer listening to her vent about the classroom discussions. Well, that and providing her with ammunition guaranteed to make her prof go into full meltdown mode. 😉

[SugarFree]

http://www.researchpubs.com/books/angrprod.php

Hey, I own that. Nice.

[Nick]

I'm no economist by any stretch, so maybe you guys can help me out. Aren't falling wholesale prices good for consumers? I mean, because of the increases in costs of everything over the last many years, don't we need a market correction?

[Meta4]

"Hey, I own that. Nice." Me to. Have you read the Wittig book? I highly recommend it. She poetically makes love to the duodenum, the small intestine, the bile...in a neoSapphoic way.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/080706307X/reasonmagazinea-20/

[John Thacker]

but I don't buy for a second the Dems will do what they think is the "right thing" and sacrifice themselves to do it.

But do you think that they'll "crash and burn" if they don't overreach and pass it? Or was your "crash and burn" comment more about enjoying Democrats realizing that they couldn't pass it without losing their seats, and that they didn't want to do that?

[SugarFree]

She poetically makes love to the duodenum, the small intestine, the bile...in a neoSapphoic way.

It's too early to get all turned on. Stop it.

[Nick]

Or was your "crash and burn" comment more about enjoying Democrats realizing that they couldn't pass it without losing their seats, and that they didn't want to do that?

This one. I love it when assholes are put in their place.

[EJM]

The Ghost of Nancy Reagan

I hate to break it to you, Nancy, but you're not dead yet.

[J sub D]

My Detroit governance morning link:
Detroit paid 2nd man $349,000
He claimed illegal body search by cops

The City of Detroit in 2007 paid another $349,000 to a second man who claimed he was victimized by two Detroit Police officers who have been sued over alleged illegal body cavity searches, the Free Press has learned.

Marjjo Clyburn, 34, of Detroit was issued a check on March 6, 2007 - the same day the city cut another check for $349,000 for Byron Ogletree, 43, who claimed the officers assaulted him after a 2006 traffic stop.
...
The payments were issued although city lawyers have maintained there is nothing to the allegations against Officers Michael Osman and Michael Parish. The officers, who are still on the job, have denied the allegations in depositions.

Just try to put a positive spin on this, I dare ya.

[SugarFree]

who have been sued over alleged illegal body cavity searches

Isn't an "illegal body cavity search" just rape?

"Wha? I wasn't raping her! I was checking her vagina for contraband with my penis!"

Put both cops on the sex offender list.

[The Ghost of Nancy Reagan]

"I hate to break it to you, Nancy, but you're not dead yet"

God complex much?

[Tomcat1066]

Isn't an "illegal body cavity search" just rape?

Again with the logic thing! How dare you!

[brotherben]

Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states of the union, according to the Gallup Poll.

I self-identify as conservative. Lotsa lefties do.

[Rhywun]

Of course, the words "conservative" and "liberal" have largely lost all meaning, so I'm sure what's the point of the survey, except maybe to make people feel happy/sad about themselves.

[brotherben]

Rhywun, I am curious how much the survey may have been skewed by the fact that liberal is a dirty word now and conservative is a good word.

[Tulpa]

Conservative is a good word? In Alabama maybe.

[Tulpa]

And there aren't going to be 60 votes in the Senate for public option. Even Chairman Conrad admits as much.

So if the majority of the Dems refuse to give up public option, and the Republicans don't cave, there won't be any health care reform.

[brotherben]

Tulpa, I'm just saying that given a choice, most people IMO would rather be called a conservative than a liberal.

If a libertarian moves to the wilds of Montana and buys some acreage and is self sustaining and smokes a little herb and grows out his hair, you could call him a hippy, or a enviro-nut or liberal. He would probably still prefer libertarian.

[T]

Conservative is a good word? In Alabama maybe.

Come to Texas.

[Tulpa]

Sorry, I'm not going to Texas till they catch El Chupacabra. That thing is some scary shit.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Sorry, I'm not going to Texas till they catch El Chupacabra. That thing is some scary shit.

Nah. What you really gotta be worried about is the Giant Armadillo.

/ dating myself