CNN Has Decided the Murderous Islamic Terrorists Might Have a Point

The inspiration for killing people - a damn cartoon.

Go read this NYT piece from Ross Douthat about the terrorist attack today.  I'll give you a little taste, for fair use, but go read the whole thing.

If a large enough group of someones is willing to kill you for saying something, then it’s something that almost certainly needs to be said, because otherwise the violent have veto power over liberal civilization, and when that scenario obtains it isn’t really a liberal civilization any more

Amen! The man gets it. The purpose of the attack today was to have us Westerners engage in self-censorship. That's the goal of these terrorists. Should we give in to people who are going to engage in violence to get what they want? NO!

Or...you could go the other way, and let the murderous terrorist-bastards win by adopting the policy that you shouldn't show cartoons of "The Prophet", like CNN has decided to do.

Either way, really.

"I didn't care if people stole the newspaper. I just wanted them to read it."

That was Brad Warthen's best line from his interview on the radio last night.

He was discussing what motivated him while at The State, and he had this line to make the point that he didn't care if his opinions pleased the newspaper's advertisers or not. He didn't write things or take positions to try and sell newspapers. He just wanted to be read. (I can relate to that in a way.)

I thought that was the best line of the program.

Friday Open Thread (Slow News Day)

Happy Friday.

Not much for news out there, other than a "meh" kind of budget deal in Congress.

Not much is new with the complete failure of Obamacare, other than it's still a train-wreck. The most recent news is that HHS is requiring that insurers allow people until December 31 to pay for coverage that would start January 1. How in the world is that going to work? You've got to at least have time for people's checks to clear. Remember, insurance is a contract - you don't get coverage unless you pay.

This is shaping up to be a serious mess come January 1. In other related news that's depressing here are three reasons that today's teenagers can't find jobs. (And why this is really bad for America.)

If you want, you can keep up with my profile on the Farmer's Only dating website.

Why Accountability is Important

Warning. This is a long post. I've put most of it below the jump.

As a private practice lawyer with a litigation practice, I have a staff. It's not large, but I have a paralegal and a legal assistant. They follow my directions and take care of things that don't necessarily need a lawyer to handle. They help with filing documents, scheduling hearings, and coming up with first drafts of documents for my review.

However, if a deadline is missed or a document isn't filed correctly, that's my fault. I'm the one who signs the pleadings, and I'm the one who is in charge. The buck stops with me. As a hypothetical: even if the mistake is that my legal assistant forgot to call the court reporter for the deposition, I would take the responsibility when I talk to either the client or opposing counsel. I don't say: My assistant forgot to arrange for the court reporter. Instead, I tell the client: I didn't arrange for the court reporter; that's my fault.

No one likes a leader who blames their subordinates for mistakes. It looks weasel-y, and I think that my staff works well to know that I have their back. Now, even though I take responsibility to the client or the opposing counsel, I'm still going to have a serious conversation with my assistant. I'm going to let him/her know that they screwed up, and they should have called the court reporter. However, I handle that privately; in house.

That's how accountability works in my office. It works well for me. Clients and opposing counsel know that I am ultimately responsible for what goes on. It ensures that when I delegate, I make sure that things are getting done. My staff knows that I'll go to bat for them outside the office, but they also know that I am there to make sure they are doing things correctly.

Now, that's contrasted with what I see going on in the government. In the parade of problems that we see with government, the one common denominator is a lack of accountability. Let's go through some specific examples:

The ACA May Work; Provided No One Responds to Incentives

The WSJ has a good piece up on why the ACA is reliant on young people acting in opposition to their self-interests.

To sum up: The ACA being feasible is reliant on having young and healthy people (people who won't consume much health care) sign up to buy health insurance so as to offset the unhealthy people (people who will consume health care). If enough young and healthy people don't sign up and pay into the system, the rates will go up on the sick people who enroll, and the whole system fails.

It's basically a massive transfer of wealth from young healthy people to older, sicker people.

Accordingly, the whole program relies on having young and healthy people pay money for an insurance policy that they will very likely not need to use, and when they are least capable of affording it. The problem is, it's not really in young people's self-interest to do this.

I guess it's poetic in some way that the waves of young voters who sent Obama to the Presidency are now going to be required to put their money where their vote was.

They're going to get some hope and change, alright. It's just going to cost them.

Phil Mickleson and Incentives

Mountain man and trout reaper @wolverine280 brings us the story of PGA golfer, Phil Mickleson, who has decided that he may need to make "drastic changes" because of the 60% tax rate he faces living in California and facing steep Federal and state taxes.

Look. It's pretty simple. If you can move from California to Florida and save a bunch of money in the process, is it really that hard of a decision? We are all obligated to pay taxes, but we aren't obligated to stay in any particular state. If one state is more tax friendly (and has equivalent golf) why shouldn't Mickleson move? Heck, tons of PGA pros have their residence in Florida. I know that he regrets getting political. He's got tons of fans that he doesn't want to alienate. He can't say what he really thinks, so I'll say it for him: the taxes are too damn high.

The important thing here is that incentives matter. People almost always act in their self-interest. Mickleson leaving California is what is best for him and his family, because he'll have more money to spend on his family.

He won't be the last wealthy person to leave the Golden State in his rear-view mirror.

Seen on Twitter

Edison didn’t sell light bulbs by having Congress penalize candle makers. Behavior modification via punitive taxation fails every time. Via @shellsuber

Damn right.

DC Ordered to Pay $1M in Legal Fees to Heller

Remember DC v. Heller? Well, on remand back to the Federal District Court, the District of Columbia (the losing party) was just ordered to pay a little more than a million dollars in Heller's legal fees and costs for the case.

The trial judge based it on a $420/hour rate, which I think is in probably line with what a lawyer competent to argue in front of the Supreme Court would command. Maybe state and local governments will be a little more cautious before they infringe on second amendment rights next time. In my opinion, the prospect of being hit with attorneys' fees is sometimes the only incentive that some litigants have to be reasonable.