Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet - Liahona June 1981 - liahona

Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet - Liahona June 1981 - liahona: "President Wilford Woodruff stated:

“I say to Israel, the Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as president of the Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God.” (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 212–13.)"

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Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet - Liahona June 1981 - liahona

Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet - Liahona June 1981 - liahona: "President Marion G. Romney tells of this incident which happened to him:

“I remember years ago when I was a bishop I had President Heber J. Grant talk to our ward. After the meeting I drove him home … Standing by me, he put his arm over my shoulder and said: ‘My boy, you always keep your eye on the President of the Church and if he ever tells you to do anything, and it is wrong, and you do it, the Lord will bless you for it.’ Then with a twinkle in his eye, he said, ‘But you don’t need to worry. The Lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray.’” (Conference Report, October 1960, p. 78.)"

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Testimony of Eugene Volokh on the Second Amendment, Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Sept. 23, 1998.

Testimony of Eugene Volokh on the Second Amendment, Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Sept. 23, 1998.: " The next amendment is, "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."  One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offence to keep arms, and by substituting a regular army in the stead of a resort to the militia.  The friends of a free government cannot be too watchful, to overcome the dangerous tendency of the public mind to sacrifice, for the sake of mere private convenience, this powerful check upon the designs of ambitious men."

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Testimony of Eugene Volokh on the Second Amendment, Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Sept. 23, 1998.

Testimony of Eugene Volokh on the Second Amendment, Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Sept. 23, 1998.: "Eight years ago, I got into an argument with a nonlawyer acquaintance about the Second Amendment.  The Amendment, this person fervently announced, clearly protects an individual right.  Not so, I argued to him, thinking him to be something of a blowhard and even a bit of a kook."

Three years ago, I discovered, to my surprise and mild chagrin, that this supposed kook was entirely right.  In preparing to teach a law school seminar on firearms regulation (one of the only about half a dozen such classes that I know of at U.S. law schools), I found that the historical evidence -- much of which I set forth verbatim in the Appendix -- overwhelmingly points to one and only one conclusion:  The Second Amendment does indeed secure an individual right to keep and bear arms.

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The Unbroken Window

The Unbroken Window: "(2) Who wants to bet me that small, organic, “local” farmers will be exempt from these new regulations? If they are exempt, do the government religionists mean to tell us that some private organizations CAN self-regulate? If they are NOT exempt, do you mean to tell us that local organic food isn’t automatically safe for us? Hmm."

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The Corner - National Review Online

The Corner - National Review Online: "Don’t get me wrong. A company’s management’s duty is to its shareholders. Trying to cut these sort of deals is part of the job. The same ought not to be said of the politicians who, disgracefully, went along."

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Is that right? Couldn't you say, a politicians duty is to get elected, and the politician is only cutting this deal because he believes it will get him reelected. It's part of his job.

So who's fault is it? Who is electing politicians that do such a poor job? Americans voters. So we should blame voters.  It's voters' job to throw out politicians who hand out pork. But why do they elect these politicians? I can see three options: (1) they don't care, (2) they are on the take in some other form of pork, or (3) they are ignorant.

If they don't care, then what's the problem?
If they are also on the take, then maybe its rational to vote that way.
If they are ignorant, they are probably rationally ignorant. There is too much information out there--too many deals like this to keep track of everything that matters to a vote. They too are probably acting in accordance with their incentives.

Maybe the key here is the difference between "duty" and "incentive."  Politicians and voters have supposed "duties" that are different from their incentives. Company management's duties and incentives are aligned -at least when it comes to getting pork.

The Unbroken Window

The Unbroken Window: "Free-market capitalism is simply too truthful. When people freely exchange goods and services, with the rights to persons and property protected, then exchange values are predicated on public evaluations of the values provided by such goods and services. There are no intrinsic values stating that you are worth $50 per hour merely by virtue of you being you, or that your invention is worth $2.5 million merely by virtue of you creating it. And people hate the truth – just examine the fiscal cliff debates and outcome to see how far from reality people have convinced themselves to locate."

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The 20 Most Annoying Liberals of 2012 (10th Annual) | Right Wing News

The 20 Most Annoying Liberals of 2012 (10th Annual) | Right Wing News: "5) Harry Reid: On the one hand, it’s great to see that the farmer from the American Gothic painting is doing so well. On the other hand, Reid still achieved a new low in American politics (which is saying something) when he, as the Senate Majority Leader, very publicly accused Mitt Romney of not paying his taxes for a decade based on what he claimed were anonymous sources."

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FBI: More People Killed with Hammers, Clubs Each Year than Rifles

FBI: More People Killed with Hammers, Clubs Each Year than Rifles: "According to the FBI annual crime statistics, the number of murders committed annually with hammers and clubs far outnumbers the number of murders committed with a rifle."

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Update: Prof. Volokh points out that it may not be true because there are a large number of uncatagorized gun murders that may have been accomplished with a rifle.

The Corner - National Review Online

The Corner - National Review Online: "A source familiar with the negotiations between Al Gore’s Current TV and Glenn Beck’s The Blaze TV tells National Review Online that, while talks between the two companies were congenial, the immediate feedback was that “Al Gore cannot sell to Glenn Beck.” “They wanted to sell to somebody they are ideologically in line with,” he said. "

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The Unbroken Window

The Unbroken Window: "2. If you do not have children, ought you have any legitimate input on climate change policy?"

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Should Gun Owners Have To Buy Liability Insurance? : Planet Money : NPR

Should Gun Owners Have To Buy Liability Insurance? : Planet Money : NPR: "But the logic is not quite as neat as it might appear. Many people already buy and own guns illegally without license or registration. Adding the cost of insurance would further discourage honest gun ownership. That would make matters worse not better. And is it so obvious that all guns are harmful to others and that gun ownership should be made more expensive to every owner? When an honest law-abiding citizen uses a gun in self-defense, it often protects those nearby who are unarmed. Perhaps gun ownership should be subsidized for honest people. I don't think this is a good idea, but raising the cost of gun ownership, particularly for good and honest people who are likely to use a gun only in self-defense, is not a free lunch."

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What I love about Scrooge. - Slate Magazine

What I love about Scrooge. - Slate Magazine: "Here's what I like about Ebenezer Scrooge: His meager lodgings were dark because darkness is cheap, and barely heated because coal is not free. His dinner was gruel, which he prepared himself. Scrooge paid no man to wait on him.
Scrooge has been called ungenerous. I say that's a bum rap. What could be more generous than keeping your lamps unlit and your plate unfilled, leaving more fuel for others to burn and more food for others to eat? Who is a more benevolent neighbor than the man who employs no servants, freeing them to wait on someone else?"

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Greg Mankiw's Blog: President rejects his bipartisan commission

Greg Mankiw's Blog: President rejects his bipartisan commission: "The fiscal deal struck last night makes one thing clear: President Obama must have really hated the recommendations of the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson commission that he appointed. The commission said that we needed to reform entitlement programs to rein in spending and that increased tax revenue should come in the form of base broadening and lower marginal tax rates. The deal appears to offer no entitlement reforms, no tax reform, and higher marginal tax rates. After all the public discussion over the past couple years of what a good fiscal reform would like like, it is hard to imagine a deal that would be less responsive to the ideas of bipartisan policy wonks."

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The Superb Mitt Romney - Jay Nordlinger - National Review Online

The Superb Mitt Romney - Jay Nordlinger - National Review Online: "Clinton will always be “the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral.” He can’t help it. And the mainstream media abet him, of course. Romney is a much different cat. And if he had tried to stay on the stage, people would surely be denouncing him for that: “Can’t you take no for an answer? Didn’t you listen to the people on Election Day? Go away.”"

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