Reason Morning Links: More Bad Job Numbers, Government-Run Internet, When Stimulus Kills

• June jobs report comes out today. The U.S. gained only 18,000 jobs in June, and May's reported unemployment has been revised from 9.1 percent to 9.2 percent. 
• Former Bushies call for the development of a government-run Internet for financial transactions. 
• Obama's open-government techtopians are leaving the White House.  
• Was Project Fast and Furious/Gunrunner, the ATF program that led to the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, funded by the ARRA?
• Romney's playing the press like a fiddle. 
• How the EPA sustains itself.

New at Reason.tv: "D.C. Taxi Heist: How a new law would screw drivers and riders"

Comments

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Just what we need, even closer government monitoring and control of our financial transactions.

[Jerry]

It's kinda strange to see these govt. people talking about a more secure Internet, yet at the same time encryption systems cannot be exported if the NSA cannot crack them...

[oncogenesis]

Say what?

[Fist of Etiquette]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The job market hit a major roadblock last month, as hiring slowed to a crawl and the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose.

There's that word again.

[The Other Kevin]

I think we should find the one guy who "expected" it, and listen to him from now on.

[Ice Nine]

There are about 50 million such guys - and they all voted against Obama and the Dems a couple times.

[Restoras]

They're like the prisoners chained facing the wall in Plato's Cave, except they have no interest in seeing what's outside.

[PS]

Brilliant. I'm totally ripping this off.

[Pro Libertate]

The economy is not behaving as planned! Kill it before it kills us!

[Restoras]

Anyone interested in a fascinating take on recent economic thinking, this book, The Origin of Wealth, is excellent, IMHO. To be candid, some sections were tough to follow and required re-reading, and it was a bit disjointed in places, but overall very interesting.

[Sean]

Is it crazy that someone linking to a book on BN.com instead of amazon.com causes me to question the recommendation?

[Restoras]

I've wondered that myself - do people think I'm nuts? But then, sometimes I prefer to not follow the herd -especially when there doesn't seem to be a lick of difference between the two.

[Sean]

I'll cop to not having used BN's site before. Amazon works so well for me I don't see the point. Sometimes I don't bother to google price check books or electronics, since Amazon seems to always be in the 3 lowest prices.

First mover advantage FTW!

[Matrix]

no sense beating a dead horse.

[Pro Libertate]

It's not quite dead yet.

[Tulpa]

"I don't want to go in the cart."

[DJF]

""""Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., chairman of the Judiciary Crime and Terrorism subcommittee, has cited Alexander's backing of the idea to urge that his fellow lawmakers help create a .secure domain.

"This doesn't have to be complicated or even mandatory,"""'

Of course it won't be complicated or mandatory, at first. Then by using scare stories and obscurely written legislation and regulations it will become both complicated and mandatory and end up with people being electronically groped by Federal Agents, soon followed by actual groping when they charge you with violating some secret provision of the law.

[Jerry]

Don't these people even know you can setup your own DNS root server?

[Danny]

More of the same. Private sector gains netted against Hooverite cuts in the public payroll:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07.....l?_r=1&hp;
Friday's report showed that 39,000 government jobs were cut in June. The previous month, 28,000 local government and 2,000 state jobs were cut, as states and towns dealt with tighter budgets.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

When the private sector's not hiring at levels to make up for growth in population and available workers, government services will eventually get cut.

Anyone who actually read where the stimulus money was being spent could see that the states were merely using the funds to cover the shortfalls from their decade-long spending increases during the 2000s. Now that the Monopoly money from that is largely gone, they're having to cut positions.

The public sector cannot survive without a healthy private sector, period.

[R C Dean]

Indeed. And because the government revenues and budgets lag the private market (even more so due to the stimulus band-aid), those public sector job losses are just starting to come on line. So expect more bad jobs numbers for awhile.

[Johnny Clamboat]

Hooverite? Surely by now you've determined that your public school lied to you. The New Deal started under Hoover.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Yeah, most public school teachers never bother to mention that Hoover spent more on public works projects in four years than his predecessors did the previous thirty combined.

Obama's supporters thought ARRA was going to be the 21st century version of the CCC and WPA, and instead it turned into SHIT.

[PIRS]

"Former Bushies call for the development of a government-run Internet for financial transactions."

It is amazing how many people are still under the impression that George W. Bush was at all conservative.

[Chupacabra]

Wasn't he the King of Deregulation?

[Sean]

So much so that he hired twice as many guys to look at porn all day at the SEC!

[PIRS]

And gave us government TSA agents who run airport security!

[Anonymous Coward]

Have some Sarbanes-Oxley, courtesy of the Great Decider.

[Sinic]

Obama's open-government techtopians are leaving the White House

So the govt will be less open now? Is that even possible?

[Lord Humungus]

The gushing over 2008 Obama election has become wonderfully muted.

My own predictions of this presidency where quite dire but back then I didn't imagine it would be _this_ bad.

btw - what happened to John and MNG? It seems a little quieter without their continual lovers spate.

[Restoras]

Vacation?

[sloopyinca]

But I thought the Meeting of the Juggaloes wasn't for a few weeks.

[Aqua Buddha]

John is out of town for Suki's funeral, I hear.

[SugarFree]

Haven't had a day-long bout of violent diarrhea in a while? Try new Snackers from Hot Pockets.

[Warty]

At first, I thought it was some combination of Snickers and Hot Pockets. I'm appalled that my brain could come up with such a thing.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That sounds yummy

[SugarFree]

In your imagination, are they baked, not fried?

[Warty]

Deep-fried, of course. The batter contains Lucky Charms.

[SugarFree]

One of my students made me Rice Krispies treats with Fruity Pebbles for my birthday last year. Delicious. It was a very touching gesture until I thought about the fact she knows I've got the diabeetus. I'm not sure what I ever did to her that warranted her that level of response.

[Restoras]

Insufficient grade inflation, you heartless bastard.

[SugarFree]

*student worker*

I suppose that she wanted to get back at me for gainfully employing her for two years.

[Warty]

Maybe you sexually harassed her or something. Does she read Jezebel?

[SugarFree]

I must have Male Gazed her with my leering penis-eyes.

[Pablo]

At a 4th of july party I tried a Rice Krispy treat with white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and pecans mixed in. Orgasm on a plate.

[SugarFree]

100% Coco and Fruity Pebbles are far too sweet, really, and they don't have as much volume, resulting in a dense Treat. Mixing them 1/2 with regular Rice Krispies are less assaultive to the adult tastebud and give a better texture.

[Pablo]

Did she try to hide your testin' supplies?

[Au H20]

Wilfred Brimley does not approve!

[Mr. FIFY]

Obviously a hate crime, SF. You should contact the Justice Department.

[Restoras]

Would be better with Cap'n Crunch, methinks.

[JOhnny MAckson]

This is why you're fat. LOL

Jess
http://www.anon4real.com

[sloopyinca]

Skynet 1 - 0 Mankind

[Fist of Etiquette]

KFC Double Down Luther Sandwich

A KFC Double Down sandwiched between two glazed donuts.

That's ONE glazed donut halved. Get the recipe right, internet.

[Mr. FIFY]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23HvJAlIh3o

One of the ongoing Epic Meal Time series. Mmmmm.

[Mr. FIFY]

Gay bacon strips!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HChm1xUSxtQ

[Pablo]

Are you referring to an Alabama hot pocket?

[db]

Ol? Olestra!

http://www.zug.com/live/83079/Ole-Olestra.html

[Scott66]

"Some of the most dedicated, focused and creative people who pushed for using technology to increase the transparency and accountability of the government are gone," ... "One can only wonder whether the commitment will remain."

Well at least I got one laugh this friday morning.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"I don't think people are leaving because of some grand debate over whether technology is important and whether it's a useful part of the administration," McLaughlin said.

Still, policy experts working on specific areas ? such as cybersecurity, privacy and wireless spectrum ? would run into a "buzz saw of long-standing bureaucracy," he said.

If only someone in the administration would piece together that maybe the private sector, running into similar bureaucratic walls in the form of over-regulation, might be burning out on growing their businesses and hiring workers. Nothing kills innovation boners like government. LEARN FROM THIS.

[Pro Libertate]

They'd rather let the whole mess implode than give up their power.

[Restoras]

This realization dawned on me over the past couple of years. Will be interesting to watch the slow-motion train wreck that's coming.

[Heh heh]

You said "rather"

[Sean]

Silence you fool, you'll summon the beast!

[STEVE SMITH]

YOU CALL?

[Aqua Buddha]

Re: the morning link on the subject, the QOTD.

Too bad to check: Project Gunrunner was funded by ? the stimulus
...And to think, you guys say the stimulus didn't produce anything. It produced guns for Mexican drug cartels, didn't it? Says Ben Domenech, in a stroke of perfect black humor: "Shovel ready."...

[Lord Humungus]

Aqua Buddha is filled with wisdom.

[Aqua Buddha]

Dozens of 'Fast & Furious' guns were confiscated from illegal aliens in Phoenix

[Kreel Sarloo]

Oh noes....ANCHORBABIEZ!!!!!...with GUNZ!!!!!

[Matrix]

not sure many people were saying it didn't produce anything... just that it wasn't producing anything positive for the economy.

[Anonymous Coward]

For an additional amount for ''State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance'', $40,000,000, for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the Southern border and in High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the Southern border, of which $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ''Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Salaries and Expenses'' for the ATF Project Gunrunner. (p.16)

This should be Obama's Watergate moment. Unlike the Watergate break-in, people have died as a result of the Congress and administration's actions.

[Butts Wagner]

How the EPA sustains itself.

did not RTFA, but I assume it's on the blood of innocent children.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Close. A short summary:

The EPA provides funding grants to outside groups that sue the EPA to increase its oversight on specific issues, thus increasing the EPA's realm and budget.

Then the EPA provides funding to......

you get the idea

[Restoras]

Huh. That's a Ponzi scheme that would make Ponzi blush. Or wish he'd come up with it first.

[Juice]

If Tea Pot Dome happened today, it wouldn't even register as a link in an "Afternoon Links" post on a blog.

This kind of corruption is so routine these days, people just take it (like a champ) and move on.

[Butts Wagner]

or maybe Hot Pocket Snackers.

[Aqua Buddha]

New Tone? Top Democrat Indicted For St. Louis BOMBING

[Matrix]

obviously he was a GOP plant...

[Mr. FIFY]

But... but... Eric Rudolph, and, uh...

[cynical]

Top? He doesn't seem to have any high official rank (certainly none that was explained in the link), so I can only assumes this means they're digging into his sexual history.

[Fist of Etiquette]

One organization involved in the suit, the Environmental Defense Fund, has a long history of taking the EPA to court. In fact, a cursory review finds almost half a dozen cases in the past 10 years.

The odd thing is that the EPA, in turn, has handed EDF $2.76 million in grants over that same period, according to an IBD review of the agency's grant database.

The EPA paying environmentalists to sue them, thus having court backing for the imposition of their expensive regulations? If the makers of pollution control systems aren't in the mix there somewhere, I will be very disappointed.

[Lord Humungus]

Somehow I can see a book titled "How Republics Die".

Once you have several bureaucratic apparatuses that become stronger than elected officials...

[Fist of Etiquette]

I wonder how vigorously EPA attorneys fought the suits the agency funded, and the legality of throwing a case you're arguing on behalf of the people.

[Restoras]

Hey, if your an attorney for the EPA, why would you jeopardize your phoney-baloney job just for some abstraction with no power or real representation in Cesspool, DC?

[Cyto]

The article makes it clear that they didn't 'fight' at all.

So sayeth Jeffrey Holmstead, Bush administration EPA official: "Often the suits involve things the EPA wants to do anyway. By inviting a lawsuit and then signing a consent decree, the agency gets legal cover from political heat."

[db]

EPA also funds state-level orgs that sue the various states' environmental agencies to impose more stringent regulations. The orgs also sue companies, but they're really shakedown operations to fund the next set of suits...and the environmental lawyers make a killing.

[P Brooks]

states and towns dealt with tighter budgets.

It's about fucking time.

[Ice Nine]

When President Barack Obama took office, he brought with him a pack of technology advocates with impressive r?sum?s and ambitious visions.

Yes, we remember Obama's new "Best and Brightest". How could we help it? Remember how "impressive" they all were? They all had fancy Ivy League degrees and were touted by everyone who was anyone as what was so sorely lacking in the "ignorant" Bush's administration. Of course they didn't know dick about the real world. And now they are rats pouring off the sinking ship.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Yeah, mostly these "best and brightest" were emotionally retarded goons playing out their "FUCK YOU DAD!" fantasies.

Obama's chief speech writer is, what, in his late 20s or early 30s? 100 years ago, you could make a case for someone from the Ivies at that age being intellectually mature and vigorously educated enough to justify being in that position. Most people in that age group today, though, are rather infantile in their sensibilities--it's why Obama's speeches always sound as if they were written for a high school essay contest.

His economic team was a group of eggheads who had never actually run a successful business in their lives, and we're supposed to expect that they had the cure for what ails the economy?

[Tulpa]

I agree to some extent, but you have to write speeches with your audience in mind. The average adult today has what would have been considered a fifth-grade vocabulary 50 years ago.

[rac3rx]

Yeah, but those little shits can crank out a large quantity of catchy looking logos and graphics for every conceivable application.

[Tulpa]

MyPlate.gov is a masterpiece of government central planning, I don't care what you guys say. Time and time again it has been shown that people are far more likely to eat bad-tasting foods and eschew fat and sweets if shown a circular chart rather than a triangular one.

[cynical]

Sad thing is that some of them (on the tech side) probably did know dick about the real world -- they just mistakenly believed the government world bore any relation to it.

[Mississippi Redneck]

Hey, Reason, there's a new libertarian commentator on youtube. She just started and only has a few videos up, but she's really good and it couldn't hurt for y'all to give her some recognition. Here's her youtube profile: http://www.youtube.com/user/TokenLibertarianGirl

[Aqua Buddha]

Is she kissing a lobster?

[Warty]

Oh, she's adorable. She makes me want to find someone to beat the shit out of in order to protect her honor.

[Pro Libertate]

I think I've seen her before. She must be with some libertarian organization or something.

[Mississippi Redneck]

It looks like she might be with FreedomWorks.

[SugarFree]

She works (or worked) for FreedomWorks.

[Mississippi Redneck]

Haha. ReasonTV could use someone a bit prettier than Matt and Nick.

[F. Hart]

Gillespie isn't bad. If he used a little lipstick and some eyeshadow, he'd be hot.

[DJF]

Gillespie does not need to be cute, he has the JACKET, the coolest object in the known universe.

[Lord Humungus]

...one Jacket to rule them all...

[Sean]

Beg to differ. While I respect the undeniable authority of The Jacket, he really needs to lose the paunch. I cannot abide men who lack flat stomachs.

[Tulpa]

They tried that once already. She got freaked out by the H&R commenters and went back to writing school.

[Mississippi Redneck]

Same girl or a different one?

[SugarFree]

Her blog.

[Mr Whipple]

She's nice. I like Praxgirl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoNU_-__LlQ

[Warty]

She looks like just the type of womern to take half my shit and ruin my life. Perfection.

[Lord Humungus]

I like teh crazy ones too.

[Sean]

The hot ones are all crazy....and the ugly ones too!

[dbcooper]

"Praxeology" sounds like a cult.

[Mississippi Redneck]

Yeah I don't have speakers hooked up to my work computer so I'll have to wait to hear what she's about, but it sounds a bit strange.

[dbcooper]

Every time I hear "universal laws of human behaviour" and "the science that" my pseudo-science meter starts furiously chirping.

[Mr Whipple]

Not familiar with Ludwig von Mises?

http://mises.org/Books/humanaction.pdf

[Mr Whipple]

HUMAN action is purposeful behavior. Or we may say: Action is will
put into operation and transformed into an agency, is aiming at ends
and goals, is the ego's meaningful response to stimuli and to the conditions of its environment, is a person's conscious adjustment to the state of the universe that determines his life. Such paraphrases may clarify the definition given and prevent possible misinterpretations. But the definition itself is adequate and does not need complement of commentary.

[Cyto]

It is a universal law of human behavior that every time someone quotes a universal law of human behavior some Luddite will point out that his pseudo-science meter starts furiously chirping.

[SugarFree]

Praxeology is the study of human action. Praxeology rejects the empirical methods of the natural sciences, because the observation of how humans act in simple situations cannot predict how they will act in complex situations.

It's a foundational viewpoint for Mises, among others.

[Cyto]

Praxeology also explains the expected behavior of the males of the species when you put a cute girl with a nice rack on youtube.

[T]

It predicts 'Tits or GTFO'?

[Restoras]

Not enough cleavage showing in the video still. Pass.

[Pro Libertate]

She might be willing to do so if and only if you vote for Ron Paul.

[Warty]

I gave him $25 the other day. That's worth a wink at least.

[Pro Libertate]

I sent money to Gary Johnson after he claimed not to have created any jobs. Paul got some last time and may again, I suppose.

[SugarFree]

This video will satisfy your perverted needs.

[TokenLibertarianGirl]

Aw, thank you! 🙂 I really appreciate it.

[F. Hart]

RON PAUL HATES PUPPIES!!!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....ppies.html

[Mississippi Redneck]

Love it!

[Fist of Etiquette]

It would serve Paul right he disbanded the TSA and those puppies came back to hijack planes and make another 9/11.

[Mississippi Redneck]

They could go work for the private security contractors that spring up to replace the TSA.

[Mr Whipple]

Or, they could be served to the homeless.

[R C Dean]

So, FoE is saying the right outcome from disbanding the TSA would be thousands of dead Americans? Doesn't that mean he is, effectively, willing to kill thousands to keep the TSA in place?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'm just trying to get everyone to picture adorable puppies licking their way into the cockpit.

[Mr. FIFY]

Putting puppies out of work in The Summer of Recovery II: Electric Boogaloo??

[Tim]

Is Libya free yet?

[Mr Whipple]

Nah. The French haven't been able to steal enough of their oil, yet.

[Ice Nine]

Not at least until we subject it to some hostilities.

[DJF]

We are at kinetic military action with Libya, we have always been in kinetic military action with Libya.

[Warty]

From Radley: City vs. vegetable garden.

Those vegetables don't have any right to grow perpendicular to the street.

[SugarFree]

Please tell the chef that I thought the tazed eggplant was particularly delicious tonight.

[Warty]

Look on the bright side: after they shoot her dog, she can use the corpse as compost.

[Tim]

It wouldn't stop resisting.

[Tulpa]

"The zucchini was not unresponsive."

[Tulpa]

I hate to say I loom large, because that's a joe-izm, but it seems to be true. You guys need a new hobby.

[JoshInHB]

Can someone tell Warren Buffet to shut the fuck up. Oh and give back your ss you socialist fuck.

[P Brooks]

the observation of how humans act in simple situations cannot predict how they will act in complex situations.

The Milgram experiment seemed to be fairly predictive.

[Tim]

I was thinking of WWI

[P Brooks]

I'll make an effort to take Kindly Old Grandpa Buffett seriously just as soon as he goes on the teevee and shows me a canceled check to "Gifts to the Treasury" for $100,000,000.00.

Until then, STFU, Warren.

[Tim]

Buffet the Vampire Slayer.

[P Brooks]

So sayeth Jeffrey Holmstead, Bush administration EPA official: "Often the suits involve things the EPA wants to do anyway. By inviting a lawsuit and then signing a consent decree, the agency gets legal cover from political heat."

INCONCEIVABLE!

[Pro Libertate]

How is this not fraud and a conflict of interest?

[R C Dean]

I'm trying to figure an angle for somebody to sue my employer to get me a couple more cute assistants and a big raise.

Trust me, I'd consent to that decree. Oh, yeah.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, that's right, it's also unethical from the practice of law angle, so need to disbar the attorneys at the EPA, too.

[Gray Ghost]

Since when has a bar association given a shit about unethical practice? Thought their attention and ire was more towards dropping the hammer on unauthorized practice, not paying one's bar dues, or screwing up a client trust account. At least, that's the impression I get from reading the local bar journal.

[Tulpa]

It's not unethical if your client instructs you to take a dive, is it? No one is saying that the lawyers are initiating this gambit, it's the administrators.

[Tulpa]

I would think it might fall under our old vague friend "honest services fraud", but regular fraud probably doesn't apply because there's no clear victim. I don't know that EPA administrators are subject to conflict of interest rules when they're not actually ruling on anything -- it's the courts doing it.

[cynical]

According to the link, it's also out-of-court settlements, which doesn't even have that fig leaf.

[P Brooks]

Is Libya free yet?

Libya's net present value is pretty low, but I wouldn't quite call it "free".

[Tim]

Junk bond status? After Gaddafi finally croaks we can appoint Geithner as CEO and maximum leader.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm holding out until I can afford 10% down. If we keep blowing stuff up, I should be ready in a few more large groupings of days.

[Au H20]

Best job market to be a recent graduate ever?

God, fuck my life.

[Jayne Cobb]

My daddy once told me any man who can't find work ain't lookin hard enough

[Au H20]

Thanks, Jayne, I needed that.

Rather fetching hat, by the way.

[db]

Field of study?

[cynical]

Get a tan, learn spanish, and pretend your papers are fake.

[P Brooks]

Fraud and conflict of interest are only categories of behavior applicable to little people.

[Pro Libertate]

You know, the real little people are the small-minded idiots in government. Maybe we need to flex our muscles a bit to scare them into their shells.

[Michael]

Obama's open-government techtopians are leaving the White House.

I'm sure they'll soon be replaced by individuals of comparable stature. Obama 2012 campaign's new CTO: http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....072.column

And who exactly is this strapping young trailblazer? Why, he's...

http://www.facebook.com/harperrules

[Mr. FIFY]

There was no point in hiring them in the first place, as Obama fucking lied about having open government.

[Joe M]

Unlike .com, .xxx and other new domains now proliferating the Internet, .secure would require visitors to use certified credentials for entry and would do away with users' Fourth Amendment rights to privacy.

Well that's a major selling point! Give up your liberty for security!

[American Barbie]

But liberty and security are both hard! I don't want either one!

[Tulpa]

The right to privacy isn't in the 4th, it's (purportedly) implied in the 9th. They seem to be confusing it with being (ironically) "secure from unreasonable search and seizure". So the .secure domain would be one where you're not secure in the sense of the 4th.

[P Brooks]

regular fraud probably doesn't apply because there's no clear victim

Wait, what?

Taxpayers and consumers don't count?

[P Brooks]

I don't know that EPA administrators are subject to conflict of interest rules when they're not actually ruling on anything -- it's the courts doing it.

Let's see... an EPA administrator wants to issue a rule which he knows will arouse the suspicion and ire of his putative "bosses" in the United States Congress, so he funds an "adversarial" lawsuit which he will then cite as a compelling reason to issue the rule he wanted to issue anyway. Nope, no conflict of interest, here.