R.I.P.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061116/ap_on_bi_ge/obit_friedman

Bummer. The world should be so lucky to have had him live, and work as long as he did.

People Must Be Educated

There's just no logical way to argue Michael Medved's point today (http://michaelmedved.townhall.com/blog/g/2b572ec8-2f34-4bb8-8fc9-ba31391adf50) that the minimum wage is bad policy, not to mention the demagoguery used to promote it. None. Like I said recently, it is to the Democratic Party (this affects 2% of the population) what flag-burning is to the republicans (a few hundred people have burned the flag).

I'm all for states putting the issue up for referendum. More power to 'em. The people speak, and at the state level, that's federalism. That's good. That’s the way everything not explicitly described in the Constitution should be handled (damn Welfare Clause!) The same can be said for those in congress who vote for it when, as Medved cites, more than 80% of the public is for it. Both instances are government intrusion into the private sector.

The problem is the fact that people are actually for it. If a person understands that it does indeed contribute to unemployment, especially the teen and minority demographic, but he/she still wants it, fine. If he/she can live with that trade-off, so be it.

movie review: match point

eh, it didn't completely work for me. it seemed very by-the-numbers, the actors going through the motions. from a kiss to "shall we go to your place or mine?" geez, let's move the plot along, shall we? i didn't buy the attraction between the tennis dude and the american girl. it seemed contrived. in a wheat field in the rain? then she turns from wanting to relegate it to an isolated incident to being psychotic about him (granted, she went back home for a spell, so some time passed). the overarching story and most details i was cool with, except for those two characters and their fling. it was also interesting that that was one of the few woody allen movies in which he didn't play a part. he's kinda like clint eastwood in that regard.
i liked the british tone. it reminded me of another couple of british movies about adultery (are all british movies about that?): damage with jeremy irons and juliette binoche and separate lies with tom wilkinson, emily watson and rupert everett. i liked the latter the most. i bought into the acting more. i dig wilkinson.

Pardon me...

But a) the expansion (i.e. increased funding) of the education department in connection with No Child Left Behind, b) the medicare prescription drug bill, c) the 6,000+ earmark-stained highway bill, d) the farm bill, etc. You'll excuse this small-government conservative for wondering if the vice president is living in a parallel universe. I take with a grain of salt anything the administration says with regard to spending restraint.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/11/cheneys_optimism_and_mine.html